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Related papers: Towards Terrain-Aware Safe Locomotion for Quadrupe…

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The equations of motion governing mobile robots are dependent on terrain properties such as the coefficient of friction, and contact model parameters. Estimating these properties is thus essential for robotic navigation. Ideally any map…

Robotics · Computer Science 2022-05-26 Parker Ewen , Adam Li , Yuxin Chen , Steven Hong , Ram Vasudevan

Identifying the physical properties of the surrounding environment is essential for robotic locomotion and navigation to deal with non-geometric hazards, such as slippery and deformable terrains. It would be of great benefit for robots to…

Robotics · Computer Science 2024-08-30 Jiaqi Chen , Jonas Frey , Ruyi Zhou , Takahiro Miki , Georg Martius , Marco Hutter

Humanoid robots can, in principle, use their legs to go almost anywhere. Developing controllers capable of traversing diverse terrains, however, remains a considerable challenge. Classical controllers are hard to generalize broadly while…

Robotics · Computer Science 2024-10-07 Ilija Radosavovic , Sarthak Kamat , Trevor Darrell , Jitendra Malik

In this paper we propose a novel bipedal locomotion controller that uses noisy exteroception to traverse a wide variety of terrains. Building on the cutting-edge advancements in attention based belief encoding for quadrupedal locomotion,…

Robotics · Computer Science 2023-04-17 Bart van Marum , Matthia Sabatelli , Hamidreza Kasaei

We address the challenge of enabling bipedal robots to traverse rough terrain by developing probabilistically safe planning and control strategies that ensure dynamic feasibility and centroidal robustness under terrain uncertainty.…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-10-10 Kasidit Muenprasitivej , Ye Zhao , Glen Chou

The enhanced mobility brought by legged locomotion empowers quadrupedal robots to navigate through complex and unstructured environments. However, optimizing agile locomotion while accounting for the varying energy costs of traversing…

For full-size humanoid robots, even with recent advances in reinforcement learning-based control, achieving reliable locomotion on complex terrains, such as long staircases, remains challenging. In such settings, limited perception,…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-12-09 Haolin Song , Hongbo Zhu , Tao Yu , Yan Liu , Mingqi Yuan , Wengang Zhou , Hua Chen , Houqiang Li

Limitations in actuation, sensing, and computation have forced small legged robots to rely on carefully tuned, mechanically mediated leg trajectories for effective locomotion. Recent advances in manufacturing, however, have enabled the…

Robotics · Computer Science 2019-07-02 Neel Doshi , Kaushik Jayaram , Samantha Castellanos , Scott Kuindersma , Robert J Wood

Dynamic locomotion of legged robots is a critical yet challenging topic in expanding the operational range of mobile robots. It requires precise planning when possible footholds are sparse, robustness against uncertainties and disturbances,…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-06-12 Junzhe He , Chong Zhang , Fabian Jenelten , Ruben Grandia , Moritz BÄcher , Marco Hutter

As bipedal robots become more and more popular in commercial and industrial settings, the ability to control them with a high degree of reliability is critical. To that end, this paper considers how to accurately estimate which feet are…

Robotics · Computer Science 2026-02-12 J. Joe Payne , Daniel A. Hagen , Denis Garagić , Aaron M. Johnson

Quadrupedal robots have demonstrated remarkable agility and robustness in traversing complex terrains. However, they struggle with dynamic object interactions, where contact must be precisely sensed and controlled. To bridge this gap, we…

This paper introduces a novel proprioceptive state estimator for legged robots based on a learned displacement measurement from IMU data. Recent research in pedestrian tracking has shown that motion can be inferred from inertial data using…

Robotics · Computer Science 2021-11-02 Russell Buchanan , Marco Camurri , Frank Dellaert , Maurice Fallon

Some of the most challenging environments on our planet are accessible to quadrupedal animals but remain out of reach for autonomous machines. Legged locomotion can dramatically expand the operational domains of robotics. However,…

Robotics · Computer Science 2020-10-23 Joonho Lee , Jemin Hwangbo , Lorenz Wellhausen , Vladlen Koltun , Marco Hutter

Accurate traversability estimation using an online dense terrain map is crucial for safe navigation in challenging environments like construction and disaster areas. However, traversability estimation for legged robots on rough terrains…

We propose a learning-based method to reconstruct the local terrain for locomotion with a mobile robot traversing urban environments. Using a stream of depth measurements from the onboard cameras and the robot's trajectory, the algorithm…

Robotics · Computer Science 2022-06-17 David Hoeller , Nikita Rudin , Christopher Choy , Animashree Anandkumar , Marco Hutter

Navigating in off-road environments for wheeled mobile robots is challenging due to dynamic and rugged terrain. Traditional physics-based stability metrics, such as Static Stability Margin (SSM) or Zero Moment Point (ZMP) require knowledge…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-07-18 Nathaniel Rose , Arif Ahmed , Emanuel Gutierrez-Cornejo , Parikshit Maini

Animals in nature combine multiple modalities, such as sight and feel, to perceive terrain and develop an understanding of how to walk on uneven terrain in a stable manner. Similarly, legged robots need to develop their ability to stably…

Robotics · Computer Science 2026-04-17 Kartikeya Singh , Youngjin Kim , Yash Turkar , Karthik Dantu

Planning whole-body motions while taking into account the terrain conditions is a challenging problem for legged robots since the terrain model might produce many local minima. Our coupled planning method uses stochastic and…

Robotics · Computer Science 2020-06-30 Carlos Mastalli , Ioannis Havoutis , Michele Focchi , Darwin G. Caldwell , Claudio Semini

Muddy terrains present significant challenges for terrestrial robots, as subtle changes in composition and water content can lead to large variations in substrate strength and force responses, causing the robot to slip or get stuck. This…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-06-09 Shipeng Liu , Jiaze Tang , Siyuan Meng , Feifei Qian

We present a unified model-based and data-driven approach for quadrupedal planning and control to achieve dynamic locomotion over uneven terrain. We utilize on-board proprioceptive and exteroceptive feedback to map sensory information and…

Robotics · Computer Science 2022-05-13 Siddhant Gangapurwala , Mathieu Geisert , Romeo Orsolino , Maurice Fallon , Ioannis Havoutis