Robust Legged Locomotion for Autonomous Mobility in Challenging Environments
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Engineering Science
Abstract
Robots with legs and arms are likely replace most manual labour, especially in environments that are dangerous for humans, and revolutionize multiple services domains in the long-term.
One of the main advantages of legged robots is that they can discretely make and break contact with the environment, in contrast to wheeled or tracked systems that require continuous contact with the ground. This way, robots with legs can modify their area of support from step to step, a requirement when negotiating challenging terrain and environments primarily built for humans. Also, the use of legs decouples the body from the robot's foot-print. This allows for wide areas of support with only small footprints, a major advantage when navigating passages, tight spaces, cluttered environments, etc. The high articulation of legged systems also allows them to manipulate their center of mass, so that the system's dynamics can be exploited for the task at hand, and to dynamically reconfigure their workspace for the benefit of their payload, i.e., increase a manipulator arm's reach or position a sensor suite in a preferred pose.
The autonomous locomotion framework that we will develop will enable current technology to be used in industrial scenarios, especially in hazardous environments that are primarily built for humans. Examples of such places are nuclear power plants, factories, oil & gas facilities, etc., where typically industrial stairs are used and a system will need to overcome various terrain difficulties, such as step over pipes, gaps, climb up/down stairs, manoeuvre through narrow passageways. Legged systems in such settings can have a large variety of roles; starting from inspection, automated monitoring of the condition of a facility; maintenance, periodic recurring tasks that need to be performed typically by a human, to intervention when an anomaly is detected.
One of the main advantages of legged robots is that they can discretely make and break contact with the environment, in contrast to wheeled or tracked systems that require continuous contact with the ground. This way, robots with legs can modify their area of support from step to step, a requirement when negotiating challenging terrain and environments primarily built for humans. Also, the use of legs decouples the body from the robot's foot-print. This allows for wide areas of support with only small footprints, a major advantage when navigating passages, tight spaces, cluttered environments, etc. The high articulation of legged systems also allows them to manipulate their center of mass, so that the system's dynamics can be exploited for the task at hand, and to dynamically reconfigure their workspace for the benefit of their payload, i.e., increase a manipulator arm's reach or position a sensor suite in a preferred pose.
The autonomous locomotion framework that we will develop will enable current technology to be used in industrial scenarios, especially in hazardous environments that are primarily built for humans. Examples of such places are nuclear power plants, factories, oil & gas facilities, etc., where typically industrial stairs are used and a system will need to overcome various terrain difficulties, such as step over pipes, gaps, climb up/down stairs, manoeuvre through narrow passageways. Legged systems in such settings can have a large variety of roles; starting from inspection, automated monitoring of the condition of a facility; maintenance, periodic recurring tasks that need to be performed typically by a human, to intervention when an anomaly is detected.
Planned Impact
This project will develop algorithms for motion planning for robots with legs and will demonstrate them on a set of challenging trials in industrial environments, largely focusing on oil & gas facilities of our partner BP, and nuclear facilities mock-ups of our partner RACE---the UK Atomic Energy Authority's centre for Remote Applications in Challenging Environments. The result of the proposed work will enable multiple applications in real conditions. As such, it has direct impact on multiple service domains and therefore in society and economy.
Industrial Impact -- Legged platforms have disruptive potential for a range of service domains. Legged platforms can provide superior mobility that is crucial for delivering robotic technology in industrial environments that are primary build for humans. For example, tasks as facility inspection, regular maintenance and security in industrial environments such as oil & gas platforms or refineries, factories, nuclear facilities, and similar settings. The morphology of such facilities often makes the use of wheeled, tracked or flying platforms impractical. These are often hazardous environments, where human presence must be minimized, while regular inspection and maintenance is key for their optimal functioning. What is more, such infrastructure was built with a human form factor in mind so wheeled or tracked platforms are often impossible to use. Legged systems in such settings can have a large variety of roles; starting from inspection, automated monitoring of the condition of a facility; maintenance, periodic recurring tasks that need to be performed typically by a human, to intervention when an anomaly is detected.
Academic Impact -- The ubiquity of motion planning in mobile robots makes this work also relevant to wheeled and flying systems. First, other groups within and beyond ORI that work on mobile platforms can directly benefit from this work, while also all labs that work with such systems will be able to use our developed framework. Second, labs and researchers that study legged locomotion will be able to directly make use of the results of the proposed work.
Industrial Impact -- Legged platforms have disruptive potential for a range of service domains. Legged platforms can provide superior mobility that is crucial for delivering robotic technology in industrial environments that are primary build for humans. For example, tasks as facility inspection, regular maintenance and security in industrial environments such as oil & gas platforms or refineries, factories, nuclear facilities, and similar settings. The morphology of such facilities often makes the use of wheeled, tracked or flying platforms impractical. These are often hazardous environments, where human presence must be minimized, while regular inspection and maintenance is key for their optimal functioning. What is more, such infrastructure was built with a human form factor in mind so wheeled or tracked platforms are often impossible to use. Legged systems in such settings can have a large variety of roles; starting from inspection, automated monitoring of the condition of a facility; maintenance, periodic recurring tasks that need to be performed typically by a human, to intervention when an anomaly is detected.
Academic Impact -- The ubiquity of motion planning in mobile robots makes this work also relevant to wheeled and flying systems. First, other groups within and beyond ORI that work on mobile platforms can directly benefit from this work, while also all labs that work with such systems will be able to use our developed framework. Second, labs and researchers that study legged locomotion will be able to directly make use of the results of the proposed work.
Publications
Orsolino R
(2021)
Rapid Stability Margin Estimation for Contact-Rich Locomotion
Orsolino R
(2021)
Rapid Stability Margin Estimation for Contact-Rich Locomotion
Mitchell A
(2023)
VAE-Loco: Versatile Quadruped Locomotion by Learning a Disentangled Gait Representation
in IEEE Transactions on Robotics
Description | We are developing a framework that allows legged robots to walk over terrains that are hard to traverse and impossible to cross for wheeled or tracked vehicles. In this direction, we have developed and implemented an algorithm that can generate motions suitable for a quadruped robot for crossing uneven terrain. We have tested our approach with our ANYmal quadruped robot and have published our approach and evaluation to the scientific community. |
Exploitation Route | Legged robots can be of use in a wide range of application areas. Specifically, through this project and the RAIN Hub, I have been targeting advanced mobility in large scale industrial facilities. The outcome of this funding can be taken forward by robot platforms that need to traverse such environments in order to robustly monitor, inspect or explore such environments. |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Agriculture Food and Drink Construction Energy |
Description | The results of this project have helped in establishing a high level of interest in legged robotics and specifically in quadrupedal robots, both for industry and in the wider public. Companies in the UK, including the partners of this project, are now exploring and evaluating the use of this technology. |
First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
Sector | Construction,Energy |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal Economic |
Description | EPSRC Capital Award for Core Equipment - Anymal D Legged Robot |
Amount | £135,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2022 |
End | 03/2023 |
Description | Robotics and Artificial Intelligence for Nuclear Plus (RAIN+) |
Amount | £1,975,413 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/W001128/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2021 |
End | 03/2022 |
Description | Smart Radiation Sensor for Intelligent Nuclear Robots |
Amount | £197,500 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 105598 |
Organisation | Innovate UK |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2019 |
End | 12/2020 |
Description | Animal Ethics Day, Museum of Natural History Oxford |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Animal Ethics Day, Museum of Natural History Oxford, June 2022. Talk "If animals matter morally, should robots too?" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Attended IROS conference in Macau |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Attended IROS conference in Macau |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Attended IROS conference virtually |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Attended IROS conference online |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Attended RSS |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Attended the Robotics: Science ans Systems Conference |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Attended TAROS 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Attended Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems Conference (TAROS), 2019, in London |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Attended TAROS 2021 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Attended Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems Conference (TAROS), 2021, online |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | ESA Webinar - Robotics for Society (1 of 2) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Seminar on robotics for industrial inspection |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | ESA Webinar - Robotics for Society (2 of 2) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Seminar on robotics for industrial inspection |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | ICRA workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Organized workshop on Towards Real-World Deployment of Legged Robots |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://icra2019wslocomotion.wordpress.com/ |
Description | IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Attended (virtually) the 2021 ICRA conference |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Attended (virtually) the 2020 ICRA conference |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | ISCF Robotics Cohort Event 2020 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Annual ISCF cohort meeting. Presented RAIN work with Createc. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Meeting Boston Dynamics representative |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Discussion of available robots |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Meeting EPSRC robotics portfolio manager, Clara Morri |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Supporters |
Results and Impact | Presentation of research and discussion upcoming fellowship proposal. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Meeting and talk with Biorob lab, EPFL, Switzerland |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to discuss collaboration and research on legged locomotion |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Meeting with ANYbotics, AG, Switzerland |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to present research and potential collaboration |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Meeting with ANYbotics, AG, Switzerland |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to present research and potential collaboration |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Meeting with ARRIVAL |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to discuss potential upcoming collaboration |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Meeting with Accenture |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to discuss collaboration on quadruped robots |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Meeting with Accenture |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting with Accenture to discuss potential inspection trials with the ANYmal quadruped |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Meeting with Accenture - 25.01.21 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to discuss collaboration on quadruped robots |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Meeting with Accenture - 5.1.21 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to discuss collaboration on quadruped robots |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Meeting with Accenture - Feb 21 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to discuss collaboration on quadruped robots |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Meeting with Airbus |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting with Airbus to present research work and discuss possible collaboration. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Meeting with BP |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Meeting with BP about collaboration and partnership |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Meeting with Createc |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting with Createc about starting Innovate UK project |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Meeting with Dyson |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting with Dyson to present research work and discuss possible collaboration. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Meeting with Dyson - 11.12.20 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to discuss potential upcoming collaboration |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Meeting with Dyson, UK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to present research and potential collaboration |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Meeting with EDF |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to present research and potential collaboration |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Meeting with EDF |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to present research and potential collaboration |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Meeting with European Space Agency (ESA) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting with ESA about potential project |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Meeting with Gregg Epps from React Robotics |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting with Gregg Epps from React Robotics, discussion about current activities and possible projects |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Meeting with Intralink |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to discuss potential upcoming collaboration |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Meeting with NSK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to discuss potential upcoming collaboration |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Meeting with Zebra Technologies Corp |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to discuss potential upcoming collaboration |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | NVIDIA workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Simulation for AI Virtual Roundtable Discussion with |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | ORCA Hub Industry Demonstrations in Blyth |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Demonstration to industry representatives of autonomous inspection of facilities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://orcahub.org/articles/a-summary-of-the-blyth-capability-demonstrations, |
Description | ORCA Industry Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting industry and policymakers from the energy sector and discussing current capabilities and research |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | ORCA Industry Workshop (AIM Day) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting industry and policymakers from the energy sector and discussing current capabilities and research |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Oxford-Berlin Symposium |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Oxford-Berlin Symposium, Academics in the Public Sphere: Navigating the Political, July 2022. Invited speaker for the session on "Living and Working with AI." |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://oxfordinberlin.eu/event/2022-symposium |
Description | Sellafield C-RAI Programme - RAI CoE Forum Meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Attended virtually |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Sellafield C-RAI Programme - RAI CoE Forum Meeting #2 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Attended virtually |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Trials at RACE, Culham |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Testing ANYmal at the mobility benchamarks of RACE in Culham |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Trials at the Fire Service College |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Field trials for ORCA |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Trials at the Fire Service College |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Field trials for ORCA and RAIN |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | UK-RAS ORI Lab presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | UK-RAS event targeting a wide public audience |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |