Improved Control Scheme for the Solo Quadruped and Experimental Comparison of Model Predictive Controllers

This letter presents significant improvements to the nominal control architecture of the open-access Solo-12 quadruped that were done to implement and compare different centroidal Model Predictive Controllers (MPC). This work was motivated by our previous study in which various MPC schemes of increa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE robotics and automation letters 2022-10, Vol.7 (4), p.9945-9952
Main Authors: Leziart, Pierre-Alexandre, Corberes, Thomas, Flayols, Thomas, Tonneau, Steve, Mansard, Nicolas, Soueres, Philippe
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automatic
Computer architecture
Controllers
Engineering Sciences
Foot
Inverse dynamics
Inverse kinematics
Legged locomotion
Legged Robots
Motion Control
Optimization and Optimal Control
Predictive control
Predictive models
Quadratic programming
Quadrupedal robots
Robots
Task analysis
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Summary:This letter presents significant improvements to the nominal control architecture of the open-access Solo-12 quadruped that were done to implement and compare different centroidal Model Predictive Controllers (MPC). This work was motivated by our previous study in which various MPC schemes of increasing complexity were tested in simulation. They range from a simplified linearized model with contact points fixed by a heuristic, to a nonlinear one that also optimizes the contact points locations. We describe the developments that were necessary to implement such control schemes on the real robot while doubling its maximum velocity. Notably, to synthesize a stable whole-body controller, the inverse dynamics resolution was replaced by a mixed inverse kinematics and quadratic programming scheme. These developments enabled the successful deployments of the various centroidal MPCs on Solo-12. Experimental results show that all MPCs lead to quite similar performances with the proposed whole-body controller and, as a consequence, do not confirm the result of previous simulation study that concluded on the preeminence of the nonlinear centroidal MPC optimizing both the center of mass trajectory and the foot placements.
ISSN:2377-3766
2377-3766
DOI:10.1109/LRA.2022.3192581