许多生物，包括各种种类的蜘蛛和毛毛虫，都会改变其形状以切换步态并适应不同的环境。从可拉伸电路到高度变形的软机器人，最近的技术进步已经开始使变化的机器人成为可能。但是，目前尚不清楚应如何以及何时发生变化以及可以获得哪些功能，从而导致各种未解决的设计和控制问题。为了开始解决这些问题，我们在这里模拟，设计和构建一个软机器人，该机器人利用形状变化来在平坦和倾斜的表面上实现运动。在模拟中对该机器人进行建模，我们在两个环境中探索了它的功能，并证明了特定于环境特定形状和步态的存在，这些形状和步态成功地转移到了物理硬件中。我们发现，改变形状的机器人在模拟和现实中比等效但不正确的机器人更好地遍历这些环境。

机器人和与世界相互作用或互动的机器人和智能系统越来越多地被用来自动化各种任务。这些系统完成这些任务的能力取决于构成机器人物理及其传感器物体的机械和电气部件，例如，感知算法感知环境，并计划和控制算法以生产和控制算法来生产和控制算法有意义的行动。因此，通常有必要在设计具体系统时考虑这些组件之间的相互作用。本文探讨了以端到端方式对机器人系统进行任务驱动的合作的工作，同时使用推理或控制算法直接优化了系统的物理组件以进行任务性能。我们首先考虑直接优化基于信标的本地化系统以达到本地化准确性的问题。设计这样的系统涉及将信标放置在整个环境中，并通过传感器读数推断位置。在我们的工作中，我们开发了一种深度学习方法，以直接优化信标的放置和位置推断以达到本地化精度。然后，我们将注意力转移到了由任务驱动的机器人及其控制器优化的相关问题上。在我们的工作中，我们首先提出基于多任务增强学习的数据有效算法。我们的方法通过利用能够在物理设计的空间上概括设计条件的控制器，有效地直接优化了物理设计和控制参数，以直接优化任务性能。然后，我们对此进行跟进，以允许对离散形态参数（例如四肢的数字和配置）进行优化。最后，我们通过探索优化的软机器人的制造和部署来得出结论。

Legged robots pose one of the greatest challenges in robotics. Dynamic and agile maneuvers of animals cannot be imitated by existing methods that are crafted by humans. A compelling alternative is reinforcement learning, which requires minimal craftsmanship and promotes the natural evolution of a control policy. However, so far, reinforcement learning research for legged robots is mainly limited to simulation, and only few and comparably simple examples have been deployed on real systems. The primary reason is that training with real robots, particularly with dynamically balancing systems, is complicated and expensive. In the present work, we report a new method for training a neural network policy in simulation and transferring it to a state-of-the-art legged system, thereby we leverage fast, automated, and cost-effective data generation schemes. The approach is applied to the ANYmal robot, a sophisticated medium-dog-sized quadrupedal system. Using policies trained in simulation, the quadrupedal machine achieves locomotion skills that go beyond what had been achieved with prior methods: ANYmal is capable of precisely and energy-efficiently following high-level body velocity commands, running faster than ever before, and recovering from falling even in complex configurations.

串联连接的机器人是希望在大规模灾害中的搜索和救援等限制空间中执行任务的候选人。这种机器人通常是韧带，我们假设肢体的添加可以改善移动性。然而，在设计和控制这种装置方面的挑战在于以提高移动性的方式协调高维冗余模块。在这里，我们开发了一个控制串联连接的多腿机器人的一般框架。具体地，我们结合了两种方法来构建一般的形状控制方案，其可以为各种机器人形态的有效运动提供自变形（“Gaits”）的基线模式。首先，我们从维度降低和生物步态分类方案中获取灵感，以产生身体变形和脚提升/降低的循环模式，其促进了任意基板接触图案的产生。其次，我们使用几何力学方法来促进识别这些起伏的最佳相位，以最大化速度和/或稳定性。我们的方案允许在扁平摩擦地形上的多腿机器人机车上的有效Gaits开发有多种数量的四肢（4,6,16，甚至0四肢）和身体致动能力（包括在Limbless设备上的侧壁Gaits）。通过适当协调身体波动和腿部放置，我们的框架结合了Limbless机器人（模块化）和腿机器人（移动性）的优势。我们预计我们的框架可以提供一般的控制方案，以便快速部署一般的多腿机器人，铺平往达在现实条件下遍历复杂环境的机器的方式。

从意外的外部扰动中恢复的能力是双模型运动的基本机动技能。有效的答复包括不仅可以恢复平衡并保持稳定性的能力，而且在平衡恢复物质不可行时，也可以保证安全的方式。对于与双式运动有关的机器人，例如人形机器人和辅助机器人设备，可帮助人类行走，设计能够提供这种稳定性和安全性的控制器可以防止机器人损坏或防止伤害相关的医疗费用。这是一个具有挑战性的任务，因为它涉及用触点产生高维，非线性和致动系统的高动态运动。尽管使用基于模型和优化方法的前进方面，但诸如广泛领域知识的要求，诸如较大的计算时间和有限的动态变化的鲁棒性仍然会使这个打开问题。在本文中，为了解决这些问题，我们开发基于学习的算法，能够为两种不同的机器人合成推送恢复控制政策：人形机器人和有助于双模型运动的辅助机器人设备。我们的工作可以分为两个密切相关的指示：1）学习人形机器人的安全下降和预防策略，2）使用机器人辅助装置学习人类的预防策略。为实现这一目标，我们介绍了一套深度加强学习（DRL）算法，以学习使用这些机器人时提高安全性的控制策略。

Some of the most challenging environments on our planet are accessible to quadrupedal animals but remain out of reach for autonomous machines. Legged locomotion can dramatically expand the operational domains of robotics. However, conventional controllers for legged locomotion are based on elaborate state machines that explicitly trigger the execution of motion primitives and reflexes. These designs have escalated in complexity while falling short of the generality and robustness of animal locomotion. Here we present a radically robust controller for legged locomotion in challenging natural environments. We present a novel solution to incorporating proprioceptive feedback in locomotion control and demonstrate remarkable zero-shot generalization from simulation to natural environments. The controller is trained by reinforcement learning in simulation. It is based on a neural network that acts on a stream of proprioceptive signals. The trained controller has taken two generations of quadrupedal ANYmal robots to a variety of natural environments that are beyond the reach of prior published work in legged locomotion. The controller retains its robustness under conditions that have never been encountered during training: deformable terrain such as mud and snow, dynamic footholds such as rubble, and overground impediments such as thick vegetation and gushing water. The presented work opens new frontiers for robotics and indicates that radical robustness in natural environments can be achieved by training in much simpler domains.

虽然在各种应用中广泛使用刚性机器人，但它们在他们可以执行的任务中受到限制，并且在密切的人机交互中可以保持不安全。另一方面，软机器鞋面超越了刚性机器人的能力，例如与工作环境，自由度，自由度，制造成本和与环境安全互动的兼容性。本文研究了纤维增强弹性机壳（释放）作为一种特定类型的软气动致动器的行为，可用于软装饰器。创建动态集参数模型以在各种操作条件下模拟单一免费的运动，并通知控制器的设计。所提出的PID控制器使用旋转角度来控制多项式函数之后的自由到限定的步进输入或轨迹的响应来控制末端执行器的方向。另外，采用有限元分析方法，包括释放的固有非线性材料特性，精确地评估释放的各种参数和配置。该工具还用于确定模块中多个释放的工作空间，这基本上是软机械臂的构建块。

Snakes and their bio-inspired robot counterparts have demonstrated locomotion on a wide range of terrains. However, dynamic vertical climbing is one locomotion strategy that has received little attention in the existing snake robotics literature. We demonstrate a new scansorial gait and robot inspired by the locomotion of the Pacific Lamprey. This new gait allows a robot to steer while climbing on flat, near-vertical surfaces. A reduced-order model is developed and used to explore the relationship between body actuation and vertical and lateral motions of the robot. Trident, the new wall climbing lamprey-inspired robot, demonstrates dynamic climbing on flat vertical surfaces with a peak net vertical stride displacement of 4.1 cm per step. Actuating at 1.3 Hz, Trident attains a vertical climbing speed of 4.8 cm/s (0.09 Bl/s) at specific resistance of 8.3. Trident can also traverse laterally at 9 cm/s (0.17 Bl/s). Moreover, Trident is able to make 14\% longer strides than the Pacific Lamprey when climbing vertically. The computational and experimental results demonstrate that a lamprey-inspired climbing gait coupled with appropriate attachment is a useful climbing strategy for snake robots climbing near vertical surfaces with limited push points.

在粗糙的地形上的动态运动需要准确的脚部放置，避免碰撞以及系统的动态不足的计划。在存在不完美且常常不完整的感知信息的情况下，可靠地优化此类动作和互动是具有挑战性的。我们提出了一个完整的感知，计划和控制管道，可以实时优化机器人所有自由度的动作。为了减轻地形所带来的数值挑战，凸出不平等约束的顺序被提取为立足性可行性的局部近似值，并嵌入到在线模型预测控制器中。每个高程映射预先计算了步骤性分类，平面分割和签名的距离场，以最大程度地减少优化过程中的计算工作。多次射击，实时迭代和基于滤波器的线路搜索的组合用于可靠地以高速率解决该法式问题。我们在模拟中的间隙，斜率和踏上石头的情况下验证了所提出的方法，并在Anymal四倍的平台上进行实验，从而实现了最新的动态攀登。

Learned locomotion policies can rapidly adapt to diverse environments similar to those experienced during training but lack a mechanism for fast tuning when they fail in an out-of-distribution test environment. This necessitates a slow and iterative cycle of reward and environment redesign to achieve good performance on a new task. As an alternative, we propose learning a single policy that encodes a structured family of locomotion strategies that solve training tasks in different ways, resulting in Multiplicity of Behavior (MoB). Different strategies generalize differently and can be chosen in real-time for new tasks or environments, bypassing the need for time-consuming retraining. We release a fast, robust open-source MoB locomotion controller, Walk These Ways, that can execute diverse gaits with variable footswing, posture, and speed, unlocking diverse downstream tasks: crouching, hopping, high-speed running, stair traversal, bracing against shoves, rhythmic dance, and more. Video and code release: https://gmargo11.github.io/walk-these-ways/

在这项工作中，我们提出了一种方法，用于生成降低的模型参考轨迹，用于用于双皮亚机器人的高度动态操作的一般类别，用于SIM卡之间，用于SIM卡至现实的增强学习。我们的方法是利用单个刚体模型（SRBM）来优化轨迹的库库，以用作学习政策的奖励函数中的专家参考。该方法将模型的动态旋转和翻译行为转化为全阶机器人模型，并成功将其传输到真实硬件。 SRBM的简单性允许快速迭代和行为改进，而基于学习的控制器的鲁棒性则可以将高度动态的动作传输到硬件。 ％在这项工作中，我们介绍了一套可转移性约束，将SRBM动态修改为实际的两足机器人硬件，这是我们为动态步进，转动操作和跳跃创建最佳轨迹的框架。在这项工作中，我们介绍了一套可转移性约束，将SRBM动力学修改为实际的双皮亚机器人硬件，我们为各种高度动态的操作创建最佳轨迹的框架，以及我们整合参考轨迹的高速强化跑步轨迹的方法学习政策。我们验证了在两足机器人Cassie上的方法，我们成功地展示了高达3.0 m/s的高度动态接地步态。

受数字孪生系统的启发，开发了一个新型的实时数字双框架，以增强机器人对地形条件的感知。基于相同的物理模型和运动控制，这项工作利用了与真实机器人同步的模拟数字双重同步，以捕获和提取两个系统之间的差异信息，这两个系统提供了多个物理数量的高维线索，以表示代表差异建模和现实世界。柔软的，非刚性的地形会导致腿部运动中常见的失败，因此，视觉感知完全不足以估计地形的这种物理特性。我们使用了数字双重来开发可折叠性的估计，这通过动态步行过程中的物理互动来解决此问题。真实机器人及其数字双重双重测量之间的感觉测量的差异用作用于地形可折叠性分析的基于学习的算法的输入。尽管仅在模拟中受过培训，但学习的模型可以在模拟和现实世界中成功执行可折叠性估计。我们对结果的评估表明，对不同方案和数字双重的优势的概括，可在地面条件下可靠地检测到细微差别。

视觉的触觉传感器由于经济实惠的高分辨率摄像机和成功的计算机视觉技术而被出现为机器人触摸的有希望的方法。但是，它们的物理设计和他们提供的信息尚不符合真实应用的要求。我们提供了一种名为Insight的强大，柔软，低成本，视觉拇指大小的3D触觉传感器：它不断在其整个圆锥形感测表面上提供定向力分布图。围绕内部单眼相机构造，传感器仅在刚性框架上仅成型一层弹性体，以保证灵敏度，鲁棒性和软接触。此外，Insight是第一个使用准直器将光度立体声和结构光混合的系统来检测其易于更换柔性外壳的3D变形。通过将图像映射到3D接触力的空间分布（正常和剪切）的深神经网络推断力信息。洞察力在0.4毫米的总空间分辨率，力量幅度精度约为0.03 n，并且对于具有不同接触面积的多个不同触点，在0.03-2 n的范围内的5度大约5度的力方向精度。呈现的硬件和软件设计概念可以转移到各种机器人部件。

通常，地形几何形状是非平滑的，非线性的，非凸的，如果通过以机器人为中心的视觉单元感知，则似乎部分被遮住且嘈杂。这项工作介绍了能够实时处理上述问题的完整控制管道。我们制定了一个轨迹优化问题，该问题可以在基本姿势和立足点上共同优化，但要遵守高度图。为了避免收敛到不良的本地Optima，我们部署了逐步的优化技术。我们嵌入了一个紧凑的接触式自由稳定性标准，该标准与非平板地面公式兼容。直接搭配用作转录方法，导致一个非线性优化问题，可以在少于十毫秒内在线解决。为了在存在外部干扰的情况下增加鲁棒性，我们用动量观察者关闭跟踪环。我们的实验证明了爬楼梯，踏上垫脚石上的楼梯，并利用各种动态步态在缝隙上。

将包装从存储设施运送到消费者前门的物流通常采用高度专业的机器人，通常会将子任务分配到不同的系统，例如，操纵器臂进行分类和轮式车辆进行交付。最近的努力试图通过腿部和人形机器人进行统一的方法。但是，这些解决方案占据了大量空间，从而减少了可以适合运送车辆的包装数量。结果，这些庞大的机器人系统通常会降低可伸缩性和并行任务的潜力。在本文中，我们介绍了Limms（锁存智能模块化移动系统），以解决典型的最后一英里交付的操纵和交付部分，同时保持最小的空间足迹。 Limms是一种对称设计的，6型自由度（DOF）的类似于附件的机器人，两端都带有轮子和闩锁机构。通过将锁在表面上并锚定在一端，Limms可以充当传统的6多型操纵器臂。另一方面，多个lims可以锁在一个盒子上，并且像腿部机器人系统一样行为，包装是身体。在运输过程中，与传统的机器人系统相比，LIMM紧紧地折叠起来，占用的空间要少得多。一大批limms单元可以安装在单个送货工具内部，为新的交付优化和混合计划方法开放，从未做过。在本文中，使用硬件原型研究和呈现了LIMM的可行性，以及在典型的最后一英里交付中的一系列子任务的仿真结果。

Everting, soft growing vine robots benefit from reduced friction with their environment, which allows them to navigate challenging terrain. Vine robots can use air pouches attached to their sides for lateral steering. However, when all pouches are serially connected, the whole robot can only perform one constant curvature in free space. It must contact the environment to navigate through obstacles along paths with multiple turns. This work presents a multi-segment vine robot that can navigate complex paths without interacting with its environment. This is achieved by a new steering method that selectively actuates each single pouch at the tip, providing high degrees of freedom with few control inputs. A small magnetic valve connects each pouch to a pressure supply line. A motorized tip mount uses an interlocking mechanism and motorized rollers on the outer material of the vine robot. As each valve passes through the tip mount, a permanent magnet inside the tip mount opens the valve so the corresponding pouch is connected to the pressure supply line at the same moment. Novel cylindrical pneumatic artificial muscles (cPAMs) are integrated into the vine robot and inflate to a cylindrical shape for improved bending characteristics compared to other state-of-the art vine robots. The motorized tip mount controls a continuous eversion speed and enables controlled retraction. A final prototype was able to repeatably grow into different shapes and hold these shapes. We predict the path using a model that assumes a piecewise constant curvature along the outside of the multi-segment vine robot. The proposed multi-segment steering method can be extended to other soft continuum robot designs.

In this paper, we present a novel control architecture for the online adaptation of bipedal locomotion on inclined obstacles. In particular, we introduce a novel, cost-effective, and versatile foot sensor to detect the proximity of the robot's feet to the ground (bump sensor). By employing this sensor, feedback controllers are implemented to reduce the impact forces during the transition of the swing to stance phase or steeping on inclined unseen obstacles. Compared to conventional sensors based on contact reaction force, this sensor detects the distance to the ground or obstacles before the foot touches the obstacle and therefore provides predictive information to anticipate the obstacles. The controller of the proposed bump sensor interacts with another admittance controller to adjust leg length. The walking experiments show successful locomotion on the unseen inclined obstacle without reducing the locomotion speed with a slope angle of 12. Foot position error causes a hard impact with the ground as a consequence of accumulative error caused by links and connections' deflection (which is manufactured by university tools). The proposed framework drastically reduces the feet' impact with the ground.

随着腿部机器人和嵌入式计算都变得越来越有能力，研究人员已经开始专注于这些机器人的现场部署。在非结构化环境中的强大自治需要对机器人周围的世界感知，以避免危害。但是，由于处理机车动力学所需的复杂规划人员和控制器，因此在网上合并在线的同时在线保持敏捷运动对腿部机器人更具挑战性。该报告将比较三种最新的感知运动方法，并讨论可以使用视觉来实现腿部自主权的不同方式。

When simulating soft robots, both their morphology and their controllers play important roles in task performance. This paper introduces a new method to co-evolve these two components in the same process. We do that by using the hyperNEAT algorithm to generate two separate neural networks in one pass, one responsible for the design of the robot body structure and the other for the control of the robot. The key difference between our method and most existing approaches is that it does not treat the development of the morphology and the controller as separate processes. Similar to nature, our method derives both the "brain" and the "body" of an agent from a single genome and develops them together. While our approach is more realistic and doesn't require an arbitrary separation of processes during evolution, it also makes the problem more complex because the search space for this single genome becomes larger and any mutation to the genome affects "brain" and the "body" at the same time. Additionally, we present a new speciation function that takes into consideration both the genotypic distance, as is the standard for NEAT, and the similarity between robot bodies. By using this function, agents with very different bodies are more likely to be in different species, this allows robots with different morphologies to have more specialized controllers since they won't crossover with other robots that are too different from them. We evaluate the presented methods on four tasks and observe that even if the search space was larger, having a single genome makes the evolution process converge faster when compared to having separated genomes for body and control. The agents in our population also show morphologies with a high degree of regularity and controllers capable of coordinating the voxels to produce the necessary movements.

在本文中，我们提出了一个可靠的控制器，该控制器在真正的盲人四足机器人上实现了自然且稳定的快速运动。只有本体感受信息，四足机器人的身体长度最大速度可以移动10倍，并且具有通过各种复杂地形的能力。通过无模型的强化学习，在模拟环境中训练控制器。在本文中，拟议的宽松邻里控制体系结构不仅保证了学习率，而且还获得了一个易于转移到真正四倍的机器人的动作网络。我们的研究发现，训练过程中存在数据对称性损失的问题，这导致学习控制器在左右对称的四倍体机器人结构上的性能不平衡，并提出了一个镜像世界神经网络来解决性能问题。由Mirror-World网络组成的学习控制器可以使机器人具有出色的反扰动能力。训练架构中没有使用特定的人类知识，例如脚部轨迹发生器。学识渊博的控制器可以协调机器人的步态频率和运动速度，并且与人工设计的控制器相比，运动模式更自然，更合理。我们的控制器具有出色的抗扰动性能，并且具有良好的概括能力，可以达到从未学到的运动速度，并且从未见过的地形。