Autonomous navigation of hexapod robots with vision-based controller adaptation

Bjelonic M, Homberger T, Kottege N, Borges P, Chli M, Beckerle P (2017)

Publication Type: Conference contribution

Publication year: 2017

Journal

Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

Pages Range: 5561-5568

Conference Proceedings Title: Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation

Event location: Singapore SG

ISBN: 9781509046331

DOI: 10.1109/ICRA.2017.7989655

Abstract

This work introduces a novel hybrid control architecture for a hexapod platform (Weaver), making it capable of autonomously navigating in uneven terrain. The main contribution stems from the use of vision-based exteroceptive terrain perception to adapt the robot's locomotion parameters. Avoiding computationally expensive path planning for the individual foot tips, the adaptation controller enables the robot to reactively adapt to the surface structure it is moving on. The virtual stiffness, which mainly characterizes the behavior of the legs' impedance controller is adapted according to visually perceived terrain properties. To further improve locomotion, the frequency and height of the robot's stride are similarly adapted. Furthermore, novel methods for terrain characterization and a keyframe based visual-inertial odometry algorithm are combined to generate a spatial map of terrain characteristics. Localization via odometry also allows for autonomous missions on variable terrain by incorporating global navigation and terrain adaptation into one control architecture. Autonomous runs on a testbed with variable terrain types illustrate that adaptive stride and impedance behavior decreases the cost of transport by 30 % compared to a non-adaptive approach and simultaneously increases body stability (up to 88 % on even terrain and by 54 % on uneven terrain). Weaver is able to freely explore outdoor environments as it is completely free of external tethers, as shown in the experiments.

Authors with CRIS profile

Philipp Beckerle

Involved external institutions

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ) / Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich CH Switzerland (CH) Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) AU Australia (AU) Technische Universität Darmstadt DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Bjelonic, M., Homberger, T., Kottege, N., Borges, P., Chli, M., & Beckerle, P. (2017). Autonomous navigation of hexapod robots with vision-based controller adaptation. In Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (pp. 5561-5568). Singapore, SG: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc..

MLA:

Bjelonic, Marko, et al. "Autonomous navigation of hexapod robots with vision-based controller adaptation." Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2017, Singapore Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2017. 5561-5568.

BibTeX: Download