| Title: |
A Nonlinear MPC Framework for Loco-Manipulation of Quadrupedal Robots With Non-Negligible Manipulator Dynamics ; IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters |
| Authors: |
Sambhus, Ruturaj S.; Mehta, Kapi Ketan; Sadeghi, Ali MirMohammad; Imran, Basit Muhammad; Kim, Jeeseop; Chunawala, Taizoon; Pastore, Vittorio; Vijayan, Sujith; Hamed, Kaveh Akbari |
| Publisher Information: |
IEEE |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Collection: |
VTechWorks (VirginiaTech) |
| Subject Terms: |
Legged robots; motion control; multi-contact whole-body motion planning and control |
| Description: |
Model predictive control (MPC) with reduced-order template models has proven effective for dynamic legged locomotion, but loco-manipulation introduces additional complexity requiring efficient algorithms for high-degree-of-freedom (DoF) systems. This letter presents a computationally efficient nonlinear MPC (NMPC) framework tailored for loco-manipulation tasks of quadrupedal robots equipped with robotic manipulators whose dynamics are non-negligible relative to those of the quadruped. The proposed framework adopts a decomposition strategy that couples locomotion template modelssuch as the single rigid body modelwith a full-order dynamic model of the robotic manipulator for torque-level control. This decomposition enables efficient real-time solution of the NMPC problem in a receding horizon fashion. The optimal state and input trajectories generated by the NMPC for locomotion are tracked by a low-level nonlinear whole-body controller, while the optimal torque commands for the manipulator are directly applied. The layered control architecture is validated through extensive numerical simulations and hardware experiments on a 15-kg Go2 quadrupedal robot augmented with a 4.4-kg 4-DoF Kinova arm. Given that the Kinova arm dynamics are non-negligible relative to the Go2 base, the proposed NMPC framework demonstrates robust stability in performing diverse loco-manipulation tasks, effectively handling external disturbances, payload variations, and uneven terrain. ; Accepted version |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
Pages 1-8; application/pdf |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
https://hdl.handle.net/10919/141324; https://doi.org/10.1109/lra.2026.3664229; 99 |
| DOI: |
10.1109/lra.2026.3664229 |
| Availability: |
https://hdl.handle.net/10919/141324; https://doi.org/10.1109/lra.2026.3664229 |
| Rights: |
In Copyright ; http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.125FE23F |
| Database: |
BASE |