Automated Gait Generation for Walking, Soft Robotic Quadrupeds

Jake Ketchum, Sophia Schiffer, Muchen Sun, Pranav Kaarthik, Ryan L. Truby, Todd D. Murphey

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Gait generation for soft robots is challenging due to the nonlinear dynamics and high dimensional input spaces of soft actuators. Limitations in soft robotic control and perception force researchers to hand-craft open loop controllers for gait sequences, which is a non-trivial process. Moreover, short soft actuator lifespans and natural variations in actuator behavior limit machine learning techniques to settings that can be learned on the same time scales as robot deployment. Lastly, simulation is not always possible, due to heterogeneity and nonlinearity in soft robotic materials and their dynamics change due to wear. We present a sample-efficient, simulation free, method for self-generating soft robot gaits, using very minimal computation. This technique is demonstrated on a motorized soft robotic quadruped that walks using four legs constructed from 16 'handed shearing auxetic' (HSA) actuators. To manage the dimension of the search space, gaits are composed of two sequential sets of leg motions selected from 7 possible primitives. Pairs of primitives are executed on one leg at a time; we then select the best-performing pair to execute while moving on to subsequent legs. This method-which uses no simulation, sophisticated computation, or user input-consistently generates good translation and rotation gaits in as low as 4 minutes of hardware experimentation, outperforming hand-crafted gaits. This is the first demonstration of completely autonomous gait generation in a soft robot.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2023
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages10245-10251
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9781665491907
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023
Event2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2023 - Detroit, United States
Duration: Oct 1 2023Oct 5 2023

Publication series

NameIEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
ISSN (Print)2153-0858
ISSN (Electronic)2153-0866

Conference

Conference2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2023
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityDetroit
Period10/1/2310/5/23

Funding

In future work, we plan to investigate automatic primitive discovery to reduce the method’s reliance on human domain knowledge as well as search re-ordering as a strategy for better transfer learning. We also plan to investigate methods for detecting and adapting to shifting robot dynamics on an ongoing basis. Further development of the platform to leverage gait generation and closed loop control should enable it to perform navigation and mapping tasks using pre-existing tools from rigid robotics. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS J.K., S.S., and T.M. acknowledge support from the Army Research Office (ARO, Grant No. W911NF-22-1-0286). P.K. and R.L.T acknowledge support from the Office of Naval Research (ONR, Grant No. N00014-22-1-2447). REFERENCES

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Software
  • Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
  • Computer Science Applications

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