When to make a step? Tackling the timing problem in multi-contact locomotion by TOPP-MPC

We present a model predictive controller (MPC) for multi-contact locomotion where predictive optimizations are realized by time-optimal path parameterization (TOPP). A key feature of this solution is that, contrary to existing planners where step timings are provided as inputs, here the timing betwe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in2017 IEEE-RAS 17th International Conference on Humanoid Robotics (Humanoids) pp. 522 - 528
Main Authors Caron, Stephane, Quang-Cuong Pham
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.11.2017
Subjects
Acceleration
Legged locomotion
Optimization
Robot kinematics
Timing
Trajectory
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ISSN2164-0580
DOI10.1109/HUMANOIDS.2017.8246922

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Summary:We present a model predictive controller (MPC) for multi-contact locomotion where predictive optimizations are realized by time-optimal path parameterization (TOPP). A key feature of this solution is that, contrary to existing planners where step timings are provided as inputs, here the timing between contact switches is computed as output of a fast nonlinear optimization. This is appealing to multi-contact locomotion, where proper timings depend on terrain topology and suitable heuristics are unknown. We show how to formulate legged locomotion as a TOPP problem and demonstrate the behavior of the resulting TOPP-MPC controller in simulations with a model of the HRP-4 humanoid robot.
ISSN:2164-0580
DOI:10.1109/HUMANOIDS.2017.8246922