# Learning Thermal-Aware Locomotion Policies for an Electrically-Actuated Quadruped Robot

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.01631 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.01631/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 2 Mar 2026.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Comparative Study on Agility, Efficiency, and Impact Absorption of Bipedal Robots with Active Toes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.19699/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Electrically-actuated quadrupedal robots possess high mobility on complex terrains, but their motors tend to accumulate heat under high-torque cyclic loads, potentially triggering overheat protection and limiting long-duration tasks. This work proposes a thermal-aware control method that incorporates motor temperatures into reinforcement learning locomotion policies and introduces thermal-constraint rewards to prevent temperature exceedance. Real-world experiments on the Unitree A1 demonstrate that, under a fixed 3 kg payload, the baseline policy triggers overheat protection and stops within approximately 7 minutes, whereas the proposed method can operate continuously for over 27 minutes without thermal interruptions while maintaining comparable command-tracking performance, thereby enhancing sustainable operational capability.