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Highly Dynamic Quadruped Locomotion via Whole-Body Impulse Control and Model Predictive Control

arXiv 1909.06586 ↗First posted 14 Sep 2019cs.ROcited by 43

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Abstract (arXiv)

Dynamic legged locomotion is a challenging topic because of the lack of established control schemes which can handle aerial phases, short stance times, and high-speed leg swings. In this paper, we propose a controller combining whole-body control (WBC) and model predictive control (MPC). In our framework, MPC finds an optimal reaction force profile over a longer time horizon with a simple model, and WBC computes joint torque, position, and velocity commands based on the reaction forces computed from MPC. Unlike existing WBCs, which attempt to track commanded body trajectories, our controller is focused more on the reaction force command, which allows it to accomplish high speed dynamic locomotion with aerial phases. The newly devised WBC is integrated with MPC and tested on the Mini-Cheetah quadruped robot. To demonstrate the robustness and versatility, the controller is tested on six different gaits in a number of different environments, including outdoors and on a treadmill, reaching a top speed of 3.7 m/s.

Key facts. Cited by 43 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). First posted on arXiv 14 Sep 2019.

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2021: 5; 2022: 15; 2023: 10; 2024: 3; 2025: 5; 2026: 5.

43 papers.

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  1. 2022Rapid Locomotion via Reinforcement Learningcited by 130
  2. 2022Walk These Ways: Tuning Robot Control for Generalization with Multiplicity of Behaviorcited by 113
  3. 2022Concurrent Training of a Control Policy and a State Estimator for Dynamic and Robust Legged Locomotioncited by 61
  4. 2021Fast and Efficient Locomotion via Learned Gait Transitionscited by 50
  5. 2021Learning to Jump from Pixelscited by 39
  6. 2022Advanced Skills by Learning Locomotion and Local Navigation End-to-Endcited by 39
  7. 2023Barkour: Benchmarking Animal-level Agility with Quadruped Robotscited by 33
  8. 2022Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning for Precise Soccer Shooting Skills using a Quadrupedal Robotcited by 32
  9. 2023Learning and Adapting Agile Locomotion Skills by Transferring Experiencecited by 25
  10. 2022CPG-RL: Learning Central Pattern Generators for Quadruped Locomotioncited by 24
  11. 2022Learning Free Gait Transition for Quadruped Robots via Phase-Guided Controllercited by 23
  12. 2022Learning Torque Control for Quadrupedal Locomotioncited by 22
31 more
  1. 2021Robust High-speed Running for Quadruped Robots via Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 20
  2. 2022Creating a Dynamic Quadrupedal Robotic Goalkeeper with Reinforcement Learningcited by 17
  3. 2023RL + Model-based Control: Using On-demand Optimal Control to Learn Versatile Legged Locomotioncited by 14
  4. 2023Controlling the Solo12 Quadruped Robot with Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 11
  5. 2022PI-ARS: Accelerating Evolution-Learned Visual-Locomotion with Predictive Information Representationscited by 10
  6. 2022Cascaded Compositional Residual Learning for Complex Interactive Behaviorscited by 9
  7. 2023Exploitation-Guided Exploration for Semantic Embodied Navigationcited by 9
  8. 2022Neural Scene Representation for Locomotion on Structured Terraincited by 8
  9. 2023Tuning Legged Locomotion Controllers via Safe Bayesian Optimizationcited by 8
  10. 2024RoboMorph: Evolving Robot Morphology using Large Language Modelscited by 8
  11. 2022Learning to Walk by Steering: Perceptive Quadrupedal Locomotion in Dynamic Environmentscited by 7
  12. 2021Autonomous Navigation for Quadrupedal Robots with Optimized Jumping through Constrained Obstaclescited by 6
  13. 2021Learning Quadruped Locomotion Policies using Logical Rulescited by 6
  14. 2023Continuous Versatile Jumping Using Learned Action Residualscited by 5
  15. 2023Event Camera-based Visual Odometry for Dynamic Motion Tracking of a Legged Robot Using Adaptive Time Surfacecited by 5
  16. 2023Identifying Important Sensory Feedback for Learning Locomotion Skillscited by 4
  17. 2022Collaborative Navigation and Manipulation of a Cable-towed Load by Multiple Quadrupedal Robotscited by 2
  18. 2022Efficient Learning of Locomotion Skills through the Discovery of Diverse Environmental Trajectory Generator Priorscited by 2
  19. 2025Real-Time Gait Adaptation for Quadrupeds using Model Predictive Control and Reinforcement Learningcited by 2
  20. 2026Learning Gait-Aware Quadruped Locomotion with Temporal Logic Specificationscited by 2
  21. 2024Learning Emergent Gaits with Decentralized Phase Oscillators: on the role of Observations, Rewards, and Feedbackcited by 1
  22. 2026AdaptManip: Learning Adaptive Whole-Body Object Lifting and Delivery with Online Recurrent State Estimationcited by 1
  23. 2026ADP: Adversarial Dynamics Priors for Physically Grounded Humanoid Locomotioncited by 1
  24. 2023Combining model-predictive control and predictive reinforcement learning for stable quadrupedal robot locomotioncited by 0
  25. 2024GainAdaptor: Learning Quadrupedal Locomotion with Dual Actors for Adaptable and Energy-Efficient Walking on Various Terrainscited by 0
  26. 2025Variable Stiffness for Robust Locomotion through Reinforcement Learningcited by 0
  27. 2025SATA: Safe and Adaptive Torque-Based Locomotion Policies Inspired by Animal Learningcited by 0
  28. 2025Adaptive MPC-based quadrupedal robot control under periodic disturbancescited by 0
  29. 2025Bayesian Inverse Physics for Neuro-Symbolic Robot Learningcited by 0
  30. 2026Learning Quadruped Walking from Seconds of Demonstrationcited by 0
  31. 2026Constraint-Enhanced Reinforcement Learning Based on Dynamic Decoupled Spherical Radial Squashingcited by 0