Adaptive Locomotion on Uneven Terrains

The main advantage of legs over other modes of locomotion, like tracks and wheels, is adaptability to a large variety of terrains. Humanoids and other legged robots can potentially navigate stairs, scramble over rocks, step through thick foliage, and even climb vertical structures like ladders and trees. But it is challenging to enable such forms of locomotion, because the robot must sense the environment and adapt its motion strategies accordingly. This chapter will discuss systems and technical approaches to adaptive locomotion, ranging from classical approaches to the state-of-the-art. Its goal is to provide a high-level survey of the software architecture, mathematical modeling, approaches, and implementation of the major components of terrain-adaptive systems.