Bridge the Gap: Enhancing Quadruped Locomotion with Vertical Ground Perturbations
Stasica M, Bick A, Bohlinger N, Mohseni O, Alois Fritzsche MJ, Hubler C, Peters J, Seyfarth A (2025)
Publication Type: Conference contribution
Publication year: 2025
Journal
Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages Range: 13370-13376
Conference Proceedings Title: IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
Event location: Hangzhou, CHN
ISBN: 9798331543938
DOI: 10.1109/IROS60139.2025.11247549
Abstract
Legged robots, particularly quadrupeds, excel at navigating rough terrains, yet their performance under vertical ground perturbations, such as those from oscillating surfaces, remains underexplored. This study introduces a novel approach to enhance quadruped locomotion robustness by training the Unitree Go2 robot on an oscillating bridge - a 13.24-meter steel-and-concrete structure with a 2.0 Hz eigenfrequency designed to perturb locomotion. Using Reinforcement Learning (RL) with the Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) algorithm in a MuJoCo simulation, we trained 15 distinct locomotion policies, combining five gaits (trot, pace, bound, free, default) with three training conditions: rigid bridge and two oscillating bridge setups with differing height regulation strategies (relative to bridge surface or ground). Domain randomization ensured zero-shot transfer to the real-world bridge. Our results demonstrate that policies trained on the oscillating bridge exhibit superior stability and adaptability compared to those trained on rigid surfaces. Our framework enables robust gait patterns even without prior bridge exposure. These findings highlight the potential of simulation-based RL to improve quadruped locomotion during dynamic ground perturbations, offering insights for designing robots capable of traversing vibrating environments.
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Germany (DE)How to cite
APA:
Stasica, M., Bick, A., Bohlinger, N., Mohseni, O., Alois Fritzsche, M.J., Hubler, C.,... Seyfarth, A. (2025). Bridge the Gap: Enhancing Quadruped Locomotion with Vertical Ground Perturbations. In Christian Laugier, Alessandro Renzaglia, Nikolay Atanasov, Stan Birchfield, Grzegorz Cielniak, Leonardo De Mattos, Laura Fiorini, Philippe Giguere, Kenji Hashimoto, Javier Ibanez-Guzman, Tetsushi Kamegawa, Jinoh Lee, Giuseppe Loianno, Kevin Luck, Hisataka Maruyama, Philippe Martinet, Hadi Moradi, Urbano Nunes, Julien Pettre, Alberto Pretto, Tommaso Ranzani, Arne Ronnau, Silvia Rossi, Elliott Rouse, Fabio Ruggiero, Olivier Simonin, Danwei Wang, Ming Yang, Eiichi Yoshida, Huijing Zhao (Eds.), IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (pp. 13370-13376). Hangzhou, CHN: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc..
MLA:
Stasica, Maximilian, et al. "Bridge the Gap: Enhancing Quadruped Locomotion with Vertical Ground Perturbations." Proceedings of the 2025 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2025, Hangzhou, CHN Ed. Christian Laugier, Alessandro Renzaglia, Nikolay Atanasov, Stan Birchfield, Grzegorz Cielniak, Leonardo De Mattos, Laura Fiorini, Philippe Giguere, Kenji Hashimoto, Javier Ibanez-Guzman, Tetsushi Kamegawa, Jinoh Lee, Giuseppe Loianno, Kevin Luck, Hisataka Maruyama, Philippe Martinet, Hadi Moradi, Urbano Nunes, Julien Pettre, Alberto Pretto, Tommaso Ranzani, Arne Ronnau, Silvia Rossi, Elliott Rouse, Fabio Ruggiero, Olivier Simonin, Danwei Wang, Ming Yang, Eiichi Yoshida, Huijing Zhao, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2025. 13370-13376.
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