Demonstration of quadrupedal locomotion over rough terrain using the littledog robot

This paper presents work by researchers at The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) on the DARPA funded Learning Locomotion program. This program started in 2005 and finished in 2009. The goal of the Learning Locomotion program was to develop control algorithms for autonomous traversal of large, irregular obstacles by an unmanned quadrupedal robot. The program was designed to allow multiple teams to compete for the fastest speeds across the terrain boards using identical hardware. Terrain sensing and localization issues were eliminated by providing a high resolution height map of the terrain as well as real time pose information of the robot on the terrain. The objective for each trial was to reach the goal position as fast as possible.