Discovery of skill switching criteria for learning agile quadruped locomotion

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Yu, Wanming, Acero, Fernando, Atanassov, Vassil, Yang, Chuanyu, Havoutis, Ioannis, Kanoulas, Dimitrios, Li, Zhibin
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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_version_ 1866929707360976896
author Yu, Wanming
Acero, Fernando
Atanassov, Vassil
Yang, Chuanyu
Havoutis, Ioannis
Kanoulas, Dimitrios
Li, Zhibin
author_facet Yu, Wanming
Acero, Fernando
Atanassov, Vassil
Yang, Chuanyu
Havoutis, Ioannis
Kanoulas, Dimitrios
Li, Zhibin
contents This paper develops a hierarchical learning and optimization framework that can learn and achieve well-coordinated multi-skill locomotion. The learned multi-skill policy can switch between skills automatically and naturally in tracking arbitrarily positioned goals and recover from failures promptly. The proposed framework is composed of a deep reinforcement learning process and an optimization process. First, the contact pattern is incorporated into the reward terms for learning different types of gaits as separate policies without the need for any other references. Then, a higher level policy is learned to generate weights for individual policies to compose multi-skill locomotion in a goal-tracking task setting. Skills are automatically and naturally switched according to the distance to the goal. The proper distances for skill switching are incorporated in reward calculation for learning the high level policy and updated by an outer optimization loop as learning progresses. We first demonstrated successful multi-skill locomotion in comprehensive tasks on a simulated Unitree A1 quadruped robot. We also deployed the learned policy in the real world showcasing trotting, bounding, galloping, and their natural transitions as the goal position changes. Moreover, the learned policy can react to unexpected failures at any time, perform prompt recovery, and resume locomotion successfully. Compared to discrete switch between single skills which failed to transition to galloping in the real world, our proposed approach achieves all the learned agile skills, with smoother and more continuous skill transitions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_06676
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Discovery of skill switching criteria for learning agile quadruped locomotion
Yu, Wanming
Acero, Fernando
Atanassov, Vassil
Yang, Chuanyu
Havoutis, Ioannis
Kanoulas, Dimitrios
Li, Zhibin
Robotics
This paper develops a hierarchical learning and optimization framework that can learn and achieve well-coordinated multi-skill locomotion. The learned multi-skill policy can switch between skills automatically and naturally in tracking arbitrarily positioned goals and recover from failures promptly. The proposed framework is composed of a deep reinforcement learning process and an optimization process. First, the contact pattern is incorporated into the reward terms for learning different types of gaits as separate policies without the need for any other references. Then, a higher level policy is learned to generate weights for individual policies to compose multi-skill locomotion in a goal-tracking task setting. Skills are automatically and naturally switched according to the distance to the goal. The proper distances for skill switching are incorporated in reward calculation for learning the high level policy and updated by an outer optimization loop as learning progresses. We first demonstrated successful multi-skill locomotion in comprehensive tasks on a simulated Unitree A1 quadruped robot. We also deployed the learned policy in the real world showcasing trotting, bounding, galloping, and their natural transitions as the goal position changes. Moreover, the learned policy can react to unexpected failures at any time, perform prompt recovery, and resume locomotion successfully. Compared to discrete switch between single skills which failed to transition to galloping in the real world, our proposed approach achieves all the learned agile skills, with smoother and more continuous skill transitions.
title Discovery of skill switching criteria for learning agile quadruped locomotion
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.06676