Finalist for the Best Interactive Session Paper

The paper “A convex model of momentum dynamics for multi-contact motion generation” by B. Ponton, A. Herzog, S. Schaal and L. Righetti was a finalist for the best interactive session award at the 2016 IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (HUMANOIDS), the flagship annual conference on humanoid robotics.

The paper addresses the problem of computing optimal movements for a robot using its hands and feet to cross complicated terrains. In particular, it computes the optimal motion for the robot center of mass and angular momentum as well as the optimal contact forces that need to be applied on the environment to cross a complex terrain. The paper proposes a convex relaxation of the normally non-convex problem that allows to find solutions within a few 100ms. This approach opens perspectives for online optimal motion generation.