# Versatile Multi-Contact Planning and Control for Legged Loco-Manipulation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.09179 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.09179/

## Key facts

- Cited by 31 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 17 Aug 2023.

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 31)

- [ReKep: Spatio-Temporal Reasoning of Relational Keypoint Constraints for Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.01652/) (2024)
- [Visual Whole-Body Control for Legged Loco-Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.16967/) (2024)
- [Pedipulate: Enabling Manipulation Skills using a Quadruped Robot's Leg](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.10837/) (2024)
- [Learning Force Control for Legged Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.01402/) (2024)
- [Learning Visual Quadrupedal Loco-Manipulation from Demonstrations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.20328/) (2024)
- [A Survey of Optimization-based Task and Motion Planning: From Classical To Learning Approaches](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.02817/) (2024)
- [Generalized Animal Imitator: Agile Locomotion with Versatile Motion Prior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.01408/) (2023)
- [Learning to Open and Traverse Doors with a Legged Manipulator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.04882/) (2024)
- [ZEST: Zero-shot Embodied Skill Transfer for Athletic Robot Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.00401/) (2026)
- [Guided Reinforcement Learning for Robust Multi-Contact Loco-Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.13817/) (2024)
- [Autonomous Behavior Planning For Humanoid Loco-manipulation Through Grounded Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.08282/) (2024)
- [WildLMa: Long Horizon Loco-Manipulation in the Wild](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.15131/) (2024)
- [Dynamic object goal pushing with mobile manipulators through model-free constrained reinforcement learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.01546/) (2025)
- [Versatile Loco-Manipulation through Flexible Interlimb Coordination](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.07876/) (2025)
- [HiLMa-Res: A General Hierarchical Framework via Residual RL for Combining Quadrupedal Locomotion and Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.06584/) (2024)
- [SLIM: Sim-to-Real Legged Instructive Manipulation via Long-Horizon Visuomotor Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.09905/) (2025)
- [Bipedalism for Quadrupedal Robots: Versatile Loco-Manipulation through Risk-Adaptive Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.20382/) (2025)
- [FALCON: Actively Decoupled Visuomotor Policies for Loco-Manipulation with Foundation-Model-Based Coordination](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.04381/) (2025)
- [Opening Articulated Structures in the Real World](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.17767/) (2024)
- [Human-Humanoid Robots Cross-Embodiment Behavior-Skill Transfer Using Decomposed Adversarial Learning from Demonstration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.15166/) (2024)
- [FLOAT Drone: A Fully-actuated Coaxial Aerial Robot for Close-Proximity Operations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.00785/) (2025)
- [Hierarchical Contact-Rich Trajectory Optimization for Multi-Modal Manipulation using Tight Convex Relaxations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.07963/) (2025)
- [MASH: Cooperative-Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Single Humanoid Robot Locomotion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.10423/) (2025)
- [ECO: Energy-Constrained Optimization with Reinforcement Learning for Humanoid Walking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.06445/) (2026)
- [CMP: Robust Whole-Body Tracking for Loco-Manipulation via Competence Manifold Projection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.07457/) (2026)
- [Physically Consistent Humanoid Loco-Manipulation using Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.16843/) (2025)
- [Scoop-and-Toss: Dynamic Object Collection for Quadrupedal Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.09406/) (2025)
- [Whole-Body Mobile Manipulation using Offline Reinforcement Learning on Sub-optimal Controllers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.12509/) (2026)
- [Scalable Trajectory Generation for Whole-Body Mobile Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.12565/) (2026)
- [Diffusion Policy for Coordinated Control of a Nonholonomic Mobile Base and Dual Arms in Door Opening and Passing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.15352/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Loco-manipulation planning skills are pivotal for expanding the utility of robots in everyday environments. These skills can be assessed based on a system's ability to coordinate complex holistic movements and multiple contact interactions when solving different tasks. However, existing approaches have been merely able to shape such behaviors with hand-crafted state machines, densely engineered rewards, or pre-recorded expert demonstrations. Here, we propose a minimally-guided framework that automatically discovers whole-body trajectories jointly with contact schedules for solving general loco-manipulation tasks in pre-modeled environments. The key insight is that multi-modal problems of this nature can be formulated and treated within the context of integrated Task and Motion Planning (TAMP). An effective bilevel search strategy is achieved by incorporating domain-specific rules and adequately combining the strengths of different planning techniques: trajectory optimization and informed graph search coupled with sampling-based planning. We showcase emergent behaviors for a quadrupedal mobile manipulator exploiting both prehensile and non-prehensile interactions to perform real-world tasks such as opening/closing heavy dishwashers and traversing spring-loaded doors. These behaviors are also deployed on the real system using a two-layer whole-body tracking controller.