5 accepted papers
In this letter, we present an excavation controller for a full-sized hydraulic excavator that can adapt online to different soil characteristics. Soil properties are hard to predict and can vary even within one scoop, which requires a controller that can adapt online to the encountered soil conditio
This article presents a planning and control pipeline for legged-wheeled (hybrid) machines. It consists of a Trajectory Optimization based planner that computes references for end-effectors and joints. The references are tracked using a whole-body controller based on a hierarchical optimization appr…
This letter shows accurate and autonomous creation of free-form trenches using a walking excavator. We present hardware extensions and modifications for full automation, a mapping approach specifically tailored to excavation, environment collision-free trajectory planning on these maps, an arm contr
This letter presents a novel planning and control approach for autonomous excavation that is independent of the soil composition and goes beyond a single dig. In contrast to the existing work, which is mostly based on position trajectories for the bucket motion, we define a single dig cycle directly
This paper introduces ANYmal, a quadrupedal robot that features outstanding mobility and dynamic motion capability. Thanks to novel, compliant joint modules with integrated electronics, the 30 kg, 0.5 m tall robotic dog is torque controllable and very robust against impulsive loads during running or…