Quadrupedal Robots Whole-Body Motion Control Based on Centroidal Momentum Dynamics

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate a method for quadruped dynamic locomotion based on centroidal momentum control. Our method relies on a quadratic program that solves an optimal control problem to track the reference rate of change of centroidal momentum as closely as possible while satisfying the dynamic, input, and contact constraints of the full quadruped robot dynamics. Given the desired footstep positions, the according reference rate of change of the centroidal momentum is formulated as a feedback control task derived from the CoM motions of a simplified model (linear inverted pendulum) based on Capture Point dynamics. The joint accelerations and the Ground Reaction Forces(GRFs) outputted from the quadratic program solver are used to calculate the desired joint torques using an inverse dynamics algorithm. The performance of the proposed method is tested in simulation and on real hardware.

Keywords

• centroidal momentum
• quadruped robot
• quadratic program
• motion control
• dynamics