Highly Dynamic Quadruped Locomotion via Whole-Body Impulse Control and Model Predictive Control

Abstract

Dynamic legged locomotion is a challenging topic because of the lack of established control schemes which can handle aerial phases, short stance times, and high-speed leg swings. In this paper, we propose a controller combining whole-body control (WBC) and model predictive control (MPC). In our framework, MPC finds an optimal reaction force profile over a longer time horizon with a simple model, and WBC computes joint torque, position, and velocity commands based on the reaction forces computed from MPC. Unlike existing WBCs, which attempt to track commanded body trajectories, our controller is focused more on the reaction force command, which allows it to accomplish high speed dynamic locomotion with aerial phases. The newly devised WBC is integrated with MPC and tested on the Mini-Cheetah quadruped robot. To demonstrate the robustness and versatility, the controller is tested on six different gaits in a number of different environments, including outdoors and on a treadmill, reaching a top speed of 3.7 m/s.

References in corpus (3)

• Learning agile and dynamic motor skills for legged robots
• Whole-Body Nonlinear Model Predictive Control Through Contacts for Quadrupeds
• Dynamic Locomotion For Passive-Ankle Biped Robots And Humanoids Using Whole-Body Locomotion Control

Cited by in corpus (20)

• Concurrent Training of a Control Policy and a State Estimator for Dynamic and Robust Legged Locomotion
• TAMOLS: Terrain-Aware Motion Optimization for Legged Systems
• Learning Free Gait Transition for Quadruped Robots via Phase-Guided Controller
• Robust High-speed Running for Quadruped Robots via Deep Reinforcement Learning
• Hybrid iLQR Model Predictive Control for Contact Implicit Stabilization on Legged Robots
• RL + Model-based Control: Using On-demand Optimal Control to Learn Versatile Legged Locomotion
• Imitating and Finetuning Model Predictive Control for Robust and Symmetric Quadrupedal Locomotion
• A Legged Soft Robot Platform for Dynamic Locomotion
• Fast and Efficient Locomotion via Learned Gait Transitions
• Robust Quadrupedal Locomotion on Sloped Terrains: A Linear Policy Approach
• Practice Makes Perfect: an iterative approach to achieve precise tracking for legged robots
• Dynamic Legged Manipulation of a Ball Through Multi-Contact Optimization
• A Unified Model with Inertia Shaping for Highly Dynamic Jumps of Legged Robots
• Contact-timing and Trajectory Optimization for 3D Jumping on Quadruped Robots
• The MIT Humanoid Robot: Design, Motion Planning, and Control For Acrobatic Behaviors
• Real-time Digital Double Framework to Predict Collapsible Terrains for Legged Robots
• Real-time Optimal Landing Control of the MIT Mini Cheetah
• Robotic Guide Dog: Leading a Human with Leash-Guided Hybrid Physical Interaction
• Robust Footstep Planning and LQR Control for Dynamic Quadrupedal Locomotion
• Technical Report: A New Hopping Controller for Highly Dynamical Bipeds