Versatile, Robust, and Explosive Locomotion with Rigid and Articulated Compliant Quadrupeds

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Ding, Jiatao, Yang, Peiyu, Boekel, Fabio, Kober, Jens, Pan, Wei, Saveriano, Matteo, Della Santina, Cosimo
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866908324441620480
author Ding, Jiatao
Yang, Peiyu
Boekel, Fabio
Kober, Jens
Pan, Wei
Saveriano, Matteo
Della Santina, Cosimo
author_facet Ding, Jiatao
Yang, Peiyu
Boekel, Fabio
Kober, Jens
Pan, Wei
Saveriano, Matteo
Della Santina, Cosimo
contents Achieving versatile and explosive motion with robustness against dynamic uncertainties is a challenging task. Introducing parallel compliance in quadrupedal design is deemed to enhance locomotion performance, which, however, makes the control task even harder. This work aims to address this challenge by proposing a general template model and establishing an efficient motion planning and control pipeline. To start, we propose a reduced-order template model-the dual-legged actuated spring-loaded inverted pendulum with trunk rotation-which explicitly models parallel compliance by decoupling spring effects from active motor actuation. With this template model, versatile acrobatic motions, such as pronking, froggy jumping, and hop-turn, are generated by a dual-layer trajectory optimization, where the singularity-free body rotation representation is taken into consideration. Integrated with a linear singularity-free tracking controller, enhanced quadrupedal locomotion is achieved. Comparisons with the existing template model reveal the improved accuracy and generalization of our model. Hardware experiments with a rigid quadruped and a newly designed compliant quadruped demonstrate that i) the template model enables generating versatile dynamic motion; ii) parallel elasticity enhances explosive motion. For example, the maximal pronking distance, hop-turn yaw angle, and froggy jumping distance increase at least by 25%, 15% and 25%, respectively; iii) parallel elasticity improves the robustness against dynamic uncertainties, including modelling errors and external disturbances. For example, the allowable support surface height variation increases by 100% for robust froggy jumping.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_12854
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Versatile, Robust, and Explosive Locomotion with Rigid and Articulated Compliant Quadrupeds
Ding, Jiatao
Yang, Peiyu
Boekel, Fabio
Kober, Jens
Pan, Wei
Saveriano, Matteo
Della Santina, Cosimo
Robotics
Achieving versatile and explosive motion with robustness against dynamic uncertainties is a challenging task. Introducing parallel compliance in quadrupedal design is deemed to enhance locomotion performance, which, however, makes the control task even harder. This work aims to address this challenge by proposing a general template model and establishing an efficient motion planning and control pipeline. To start, we propose a reduced-order template model-the dual-legged actuated spring-loaded inverted pendulum with trunk rotation-which explicitly models parallel compliance by decoupling spring effects from active motor actuation. With this template model, versatile acrobatic motions, such as pronking, froggy jumping, and hop-turn, are generated by a dual-layer trajectory optimization, where the singularity-free body rotation representation is taken into consideration. Integrated with a linear singularity-free tracking controller, enhanced quadrupedal locomotion is achieved. Comparisons with the existing template model reveal the improved accuracy and generalization of our model. Hardware experiments with a rigid quadruped and a newly designed compliant quadruped demonstrate that i) the template model enables generating versatile dynamic motion; ii) parallel elasticity enhances explosive motion. For example, the maximal pronking distance, hop-turn yaw angle, and froggy jumping distance increase at least by 25%, 15% and 25%, respectively; iii) parallel elasticity improves the robustness against dynamic uncertainties, including modelling errors and external disturbances. For example, the allowable support surface height variation increases by 100% for robust froggy jumping.
title Versatile, Robust, and Explosive Locomotion with Rigid and Articulated Compliant Quadrupeds
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.12854