# MoRE: Mixture of Residual Experts for Humanoid Lifelike Gaits Learning on Complex Terrains

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.08840 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.08840/

## Key facts

- Cited by 10 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in RL for robot locomotion and manipulation, one of 15 directions in Deep reinforcement learning methods.
- Builds on 27 of its 35 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 10 Jun 2025.

## Placed in

- Deep reinforcement learning methods / [RL for robot locomotion and manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/deeprl/rl-for-robot-locomotion-and-manipulation/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 27 of 27)

- [Proximal Policy Optimization Algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.06347/) (2017)
- [AMASS: Archive of Motion Capture as Surface Shapes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.03278/) (2019)
- [Isaac Gym: High Performance GPU-Based Physics Simulation For Robot Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.10470/) (2021)
- [Learning Quadrupedal Locomotion over Challenging Terrain](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.11251/) (2020)
- [Learning to Walk in Minutes Using Massively Parallel Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.11978/) (2021)
- [Conflict-Averse Gradient Descent for Multi-task Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.14048/) (2021)
- [Robust Motion In-betweening](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.04942/) (2021)
- [OmniH2O: Universal and Dexterous Human-to-Humanoid Whole-Body Teleoperation and Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.08858/) (2024)
- [Real-World Humanoid Locomotion with Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.03381/) (2023)
- [Multi-Task Reinforcement Learning with Context-based Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.06177/) (2021)
- [Residual Policy Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.06298/) (2018)
- [Walk These Ways: Tuning Robot Control for Generalization with Multiplicity of Behavior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.03238/) (2022)
- [TossingBot: Learning to Throw Arbitrary Objects with Residual Physics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.11239/) (2019)
- [ASAP: Aligning Simulation and Real-World Physics for Learning Agile Humanoid Whole-Body Skills](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.01143/) (2025)
- [Humanoid Parkour Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.10759/) (2024)
- [Adversarial Motion Priors Make Good Substitutes for Complex Reward Functions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.15103/) (2022)
- [ExBody2: Advanced Expressive Humanoid Whole-Body Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.13196/) (2024)
- [Advancing Humanoid Locomotion: Mastering Challenging Terrains with Denoising World Model Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.14472/) (2024)
- [Learning Humanoid Locomotion with Perceptive Internal Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.14386/) (2024)
- [BeamDojo: Learning Agile Humanoid Locomotion on Sparse Footholds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.10363/) (2025)
- [HumanMimic: Learning Natural Locomotion and Transitions for Humanoid Robot via Wasserstein Adversarial Imitation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.14225/) (2023)
- [Whole-body Humanoid Robot Locomotion with Human Reference](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.18294/) (2024)
- [PIE: Parkour with Implicit-Explicit Learning Framework for Legged Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.13740/) (2024)
- [Learning Humanoid Locomotion with World Model Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.16230/) (2025)
- [Adversarial Locomotion and Motion Imitation for Humanoid Policy Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.14305/) (2025)
- [VB-Com: Learning Vision-Blind Composite Humanoid Locomotion Against Deficient Perception](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.14814/) (2025)
- [HWC-Loco: A Hierarchical Whole-Body Control Approach to Robust Humanoid Locomotion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.00923/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 10 of 10)

- [TextOp: Real-time Interactive Text-Driven Humanoid Robot Motion Generation and Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.07439/) (2026)
- [KungfuBot2: Learning Versatile Motion Skills for Humanoid Whole-Body Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.16638/) (2025)
- [Gait-Adaptive Perceptive Humanoid Locomotion with Real-Time Under-Base Terrain Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.07464/) (2025)
- [Contrastive Representation Learning for Robust Sim-to-Real Transfer of Adaptive Humanoid Locomotion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.12858/) (2025)
- [SPHERE: Mitigating the Loss of Spectral Plasticity in Mixture-of-Experts for Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.04712/) (2026)
- [Generalizing from References using a Multi-Task Reference and Goal-Driven RL Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.20375/) (2026)
- [PCHC: Enabling Preference Conditioned Humanoid Control via Multi-Objective Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.24047/) (2026)
- [CoRe-MoE: Contrastive Reweighted Mixture of Experts for Multi-Terrain Humanoid Locomotion with Gait Adaptation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.04718/) (2026)
- [CAP: Continuously Adaptive Perception-Blind Humanoid Locomotion via Learned Denoising](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.11553/) (2026)
- [FootQuery: Future-Touchdown-Guided Retrieval from Depth History for Perceptive Humanoid Locomotion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.21447/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Humanoid robots have demonstrated robust locomotion capabilities using Reinforcement Learning (RL)-based approaches. Further, to obtain human-like behaviors, existing methods integrate human motion-tracking or motion prior in the RL framework. However, these methods are limited in flat terrains with proprioception only, restricting their abilities to traverse challenging terrains with human-like gaits. In this work, we propose a novel framework using a mixture of latent residual experts with multi-discriminators to train an RL policy, which is capable of traversing complex terrains in controllable lifelike gaits with exteroception. Our two-stage training pipeline first teaches the policy to traverse complex terrains using a depth camera, and then enables gait-commanded switching between human-like gait patterns. We also design gait rewards to adjust human-like behaviors like robot base height. Simulation and real-world experiments demonstrate that our framework exhibits exceptional performance in traversing complex terrains, and achieves seamless transitions between multiple human-like gait patterns.
