mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Hiking in the Wild: A Scalable Perceptive Parkour Framework for Humanoids

arXiv 2601.07718 ↗First posted 12 Jan 2026cs.RO cs.AIcited by 11

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Abstract (arXiv)

Achieving robust humanoid hiking in complex, unstructured environments requires transitioning from reactive proprioception to proactive perception. However, integrating exteroception remains a significant challenge: mapping-based methods suffer from state estimation drift; for instance, LiDAR-based methods do not handle torso jitter well. Existing end-to-end approaches often struggle with scalability and training complexity; specifically, some previous works using virtual obstacles are implemented case-by-case. In this work, we present textitHiking in the Wild, a scalable, end-to-end parkour perceptive framework designed for robust humanoid hiking. To ensure safety and training stability, we introduce two key mechanisms: a foothold safety mechanism combining scalable textitTerrain Edge Detection with textitFoot Volume Points to prevent catastrophic slippage on edges, and a textitFlat Patch Sampling strategy that mitigates reward hacking by generating feasible navigation targets. Our approach utilizes a single-stage reinforcement learning scheme, mapping raw depth inputs and proprioception directly to joint actions, without relying on external state estimation. Extensive field experiments on a full-size humanoid demonstrate that our policy enables robust traversal of complex terrains at speeds up to 2.5 m/s. The training and deployment code is open-sourced to facilitate reproducible research and deployment on real robots with minimal hardware modifications.

Key facts. Cited by 11 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 35 of its 58 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 12 Jan 2026.

Builds on

35 of 58 references.

References · 35

  1. 2017Proximal Policy Optimization Algorithmscited by 14,441
  2. 2021Robust Motion In-betweeningcited by 223
  3. 2023Real-World Humanoid Locomotion with Reinforcement Learningcited by 132
  4. 2025BeyondMimic: From Motion Tracking to Versatile Humanoid Control via Guided Diffusioncited by 128
  5. 2023Extreme Parkour with Legged Robotscited by 120
  6. 2023Robot Parkour Learningcited by 115
  7. 2025SONIC: Supersizing Motion Tracking for Natural Humanoid Whole-Body Controlcited by 83
  8. 2021Blind Bipedal Stair Traversal via Sim-to-Real Reinforcement Learningcited by 73
  9. 2024Humanoid Parkour Learningcited by 66
  10. 2025Retargeting Matters: General Motion Retargeting for Humanoid Motion Trackingcited by 60
  11. 2024Learning Humanoid Locomotion with Perceptive Internal Modelcited by 38
  12. 2023DTC: Deep Tracking Controlcited by 37
23 more
  1. 2024Humanoid-Gym: Reinforcement Learning for Humanoid Robot with Zero-Shot Sim2Real Transfercited by 35
  2. 2025BeamDojo: Learning Agile Humanoid Locomotion on Sparse Footholdscited by 32
  3. 2023Learning Vision-Based Bipedal Locomotion for Challenging Terraincited by 30
  4. 2022Perceptive Locomotion through Nonlinear Model Predictive Controlcited by 27
  5. 2025Attention-Based Map Encoding for Learning Generalized Legged Locomotioncited by 27
  6. 2024Learning Humanoid Locomotion over Challenging Terraincited by 20
  7. 2025Parkour in the Wild: Learning a General and Extensible Agile Locomotion Policy Using Multi-expert Distillation and RL Fine-tuningcited by 18
  8. 2025MoE-Loco: Mixture of Experts for Multitask Locomotioncited by 17
  9. 2023Learning Agile Locomotion on Risky Terrainscited by 15
  10. 2021Vision-aided Dynamic Quadrupedal Locomotion on Discrete Terrain using Motion Librariescited by 12
  11. 2018Fast and Continuous Foothold Adaptation for Dynamic Locomotion through CNNscited by 11
  12. 2025High-speed control and navigation for quadrupedal robots on complex and discrete terraincited by 11
  13. 2020Motion Planning for Quadrupedal Locomotion: Coupled Planning, Terrain Mapping and Whole-Body Controlcited by 10
  14. 2025Gallant: Voxel Grid-based Humanoid Locomotion and Local-navigation across 3D Constrained Terrainscited by 10
  15. 2024Quadruped robot traversing 3D complex environments with limited perceptioncited by 8
  16. 2025Learning Perceptive Humanoid Locomotion over Challenging Terraincited by 8
  17. 2024Robust Robot Walker: Learning Agile Locomotion over Tiny Trapscited by 7
  18. 2025DPL: Depth-only Perceptive Humanoid Locomotion via Realistic Depth Synthesis and Cross-Attention Terrain Reconstructioncited by 7
  19. 2019On-line and on-board planning and perception for quadrupedal locomotioncited by 5
  20. 2019MPC for Humanoid Gait Generation: Stability and Feasibilitycited by 4
  21. 2025Learning Vision-Driven Reactive Soccer Skills for Humanoid Robotscited by 4
  22. 2025Gait-Adaptive Perceptive Humanoid Locomotion with Real-Time Under-Base Terrain Reconstructioncited by 4
  23. 2025PvP: Data-Efficient Humanoid Robot Learning with Proprioceptive-Privileged Contrastive Representationscited by 2

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 11.

11 papers.

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2026REAL: Robust Extreme Agility via Spatio-Temporal Policy Learning and Physics-Guided Filtering
  2. 2025Learning Humanoid Locomotion with World Model Reconstruction
  3. 2026MulDP: Multimodal Diffusion Policy for Autonomous Quadruped Parkour Navigation across Complex Terrains
  4. 2025E-SDS: Environment-aware See it, Do it, Sorted - Automated Environment-Aware Reinforcement Learning for Humanoid Locomotion
  5. 2026Generate, Track, Improve: Perceptive Multi-Skill Humanoid Locomotion with RL-Fine-Tuned Motion Generators ↗
  6. 2026VIGOR: Visual Goal-In-Context Inference for Unified Humanoid Fall Safety ↗
  7. 2024Advancing Humanoid Locomotion: Mastering Challenging Terrains with Denoising World Model Learning
  8. 2025DreamPolicy: A Unified World-model Policy for Scalable Humanoid Locomotion