Dynamic Policy Learning for Legged Robot with Simplified Model Pretraining and Model Homotopy Transfer

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kang, Dongyun, Kim, Min-Gyu, Song, Tae-Gyu, Kim, Hajun, Ha, Sehoon, Park, Hae-Won
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Kang, Dongyun
Kim, Min-Gyu
Song, Tae-Gyu
Kim, Hajun
Ha, Sehoon
Park, Hae-Won
author_facet Kang, Dongyun
Kim, Min-Gyu
Song, Tae-Gyu
Kim, Hajun
Ha, Sehoon
Park, Hae-Won
contents Generating dynamic motions for legged robots remains a challenging problem. While reinforcement learning has achieved notable success in various legged locomotion tasks, producing highly dynamic behaviors often requires extensive reward tuning or high-quality demonstrations. Leveraging reduced-order models can help mitigate these challenges. However, the model discrepancy poses a significant challenge when transferring policies to full-body dynamics environments. In this work, we introduce a continuation-based learning framework that combines simplified model pretraining and model homotopy transfer to efficiently generate and refine complex dynamic behaviors. First, we pretrain the policy using a single rigid body model to capture core motion patterns in a simplified environment. Next, we employ a continuation strategy to progressively transfer the policy to the full-body environment, minimizing performance loss. To define the continuation path, we introduce a model homotopy from the single rigid body model to the full-body model by gradually redistributing mass and inertia between the trunk and legs. The proposed method not only achieves faster convergence but also demonstrates superior stability during the transfer process compared to baseline methods. Our framework is validated on a range of dynamic tasks, including flips and wall-assisted maneuvers, and is successfully deployed on a real quadrupedal robot.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_24698
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Dynamic Policy Learning for Legged Robot with Simplified Model Pretraining and Model Homotopy Transfer
Kang, Dongyun
Kim, Min-Gyu
Song, Tae-Gyu
Kim, Hajun
Ha, Sehoon
Park, Hae-Won
Robotics
Generating dynamic motions for legged robots remains a challenging problem. While reinforcement learning has achieved notable success in various legged locomotion tasks, producing highly dynamic behaviors often requires extensive reward tuning or high-quality demonstrations. Leveraging reduced-order models can help mitigate these challenges. However, the model discrepancy poses a significant challenge when transferring policies to full-body dynamics environments. In this work, we introduce a continuation-based learning framework that combines simplified model pretraining and model homotopy transfer to efficiently generate and refine complex dynamic behaviors. First, we pretrain the policy using a single rigid body model to capture core motion patterns in a simplified environment. Next, we employ a continuation strategy to progressively transfer the policy to the full-body environment, minimizing performance loss. To define the continuation path, we introduce a model homotopy from the single rigid body model to the full-body model by gradually redistributing mass and inertia between the trunk and legs. The proposed method not only achieves faster convergence but also demonstrates superior stability during the transfer process compared to baseline methods. Our framework is validated on a range of dynamic tasks, including flips and wall-assisted maneuvers, and is successfully deployed on a real quadrupedal robot.
title Dynamic Policy Learning for Legged Robot with Simplified Model Pretraining and Model Homotopy Transfer
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.24698