Researchers are always looking for ways to improve locomotion algorithms for robots. Getting robots to maintain their balance on slippery surfaces can be particularly challenging. Robotic Systems Lab has shared a video that shows how robots can be taught to negotiate slippery surfaces.
This approach treats slip detection and recovery tasks separately. As the researchers explain, they
propose impedance control and friction modulation as useful tools to recover stability during traction loss. We demonstrate the success of our estimation/control architecture by enabling ANYmal, a quadrupedal torque-controllable robot, to dynamically walk over slippery terrain.
[HT]