2023/10/09 by Aristotelis Papatheodorou, Papatheodorou, Aristotelis, Wolfgang Merkt +5 · 2 citations
Computer Science · Engineering · #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Robotic Locomotion and Control #Robotic Mechanisms and Dynamics #Robotic Path Planning Algorithms #Robotics (cs.RO)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2310.06074
openalex publication_date 2023/10/09 · openalex created_date 2023/10/12 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The current state-of-the-art gradient-based optimisation frameworks are able to produce impressive dynamic manoeuvres such as linear and rotational jumps. However, these methods, which optimise over the full rigid-body dynamics of the robot, often require precise foothold locations apriori, while real-time performance is not guaranteed without elaborate regularisation and tuning of the cost function. In contrast, we investigate the advantages of a task-space optimisation framework, with special focus on acrobatic motions. Our proposed formulation exploits the system's high-order nonlinearities, such as the nonholonomy of the angular momentum, in order to produce feasible, high-acceleration manoeuvres. By leveraging the full-centroidal dynamics of the quadruped ANYmal C and directly optimising its footholds and contact forces, the framework is capable of producing efficient motion plans with low computational overhead. Finally, we deploy our proposed framework on the ANYmal C platform, and demonstrate its true capabilities through real-world experiments, with the successful execution of high-acceleration motions, such as linear and rotational jumps. Extensive analysis of these shows that the robot's dynamics can be exploited to surpass its hardware limitations of having a high mass and low-torque limits.