An adaptive hierarchical control framework for quadrupedal robots in planetary exploration

Fuente: arXiv
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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Stark, Franek, Kumar, Rohit, Vyas, Shubham, Isermann, Hannah, Haack, Jonas, Popescu, Mihaela, Middelberg, Jakob, Mronga, Dennis, Kirchner, Frank
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Stark, Franek
Kumar, Rohit
Vyas, Shubham
Isermann, Hannah
Haack, Jonas
Popescu, Mihaela
Middelberg, Jakob
Mronga, Dennis
Kirchner, Frank
author_facet Stark, Franek
Kumar, Rohit
Vyas, Shubham
Isermann, Hannah
Haack, Jonas
Popescu, Mihaela
Middelberg, Jakob
Mronga, Dennis
Kirchner, Frank
contents Planetary exploration missions require robots capable of navigating extreme and unknown environments. While wheeled rovers have dominated past missions, their mobility is limited to traversable surfaces. Legged robots, especially quadrupeds, can overcome these limitations by handling uneven, obstacle-rich, and deformable terrains. However, deploying such robots in unknown conditions is challenging due to the need for environment-specific control, which is infeasible when terrain and robot parameters are uncertain. This work presents a modular control framework that combines model-based dynamic control with online model adaptation and adaptive footstep planning to address uncertainties in both robot and terrain properties. The framework includes state estimation for quadrupeds with and without contact sensing, supports runtime reconfiguration, and is integrated into ROS 2 with open-source availability. Its performance was validated on two quadruped platforms, multiple hardware architectures, and in a volcano field test, where the robot walked over 700 m.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_17249
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An adaptive hierarchical control framework for quadrupedal robots in planetary exploration
Stark, Franek
Kumar, Rohit
Vyas, Shubham
Isermann, Hannah
Haack, Jonas
Popescu, Mihaela
Middelberg, Jakob
Mronga, Dennis
Kirchner, Frank
Robotics
Planetary exploration missions require robots capable of navigating extreme and unknown environments. While wheeled rovers have dominated past missions, their mobility is limited to traversable surfaces. Legged robots, especially quadrupeds, can overcome these limitations by handling uneven, obstacle-rich, and deformable terrains. However, deploying such robots in unknown conditions is challenging due to the need for environment-specific control, which is infeasible when terrain and robot parameters are uncertain. This work presents a modular control framework that combines model-based dynamic control with online model adaptation and adaptive footstep planning to address uncertainties in both robot and terrain properties. The framework includes state estimation for quadrupeds with and without contact sensing, supports runtime reconfiguration, and is integrated into ROS 2 with open-source availability. Its performance was validated on two quadruped platforms, multiple hardware architectures, and in a volcano field test, where the robot walked over 700 m.
title An adaptive hierarchical control framework for quadrupedal robots in planetary exploration
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.17249