S-Cheetah机器人用三自由度仿生脊柱实现高速敏捷运动，突破传统设计局限。
S-Cheetah: A Novel Quadrupedal Robot with a 3-DOF Active Spine Learning Agile Locomotion
- 设计3自由度仿生脊柱，支持生物脊柱的三维空间转动。
- 通过强化学习实现峰值速度6.9米/秒、原地转向7.2弧度/秒。
- 具备猫科动物般的空中自稳能力，适合复杂地形奔跑任务。
四足动物的生物脊柱可实现矢状面屈伸、侧向弯曲和轴向旋转，在高度敏捷与灵巧运动中起关键作用。尽管已有研究将主动脊关节引入四足机器人以提升敏捷性，但多数设计为简化控制而减少脊柱自由度，未能实现生物脊柱的空间三轴旋转特性。因此，复现多自由度仿生脊柱并有效利用其提升四足机器人敏捷运动能力仍是重大挑战。本研究提出S-Cheetah，一款配备3-DOF生物启发串联主动脊柱的四足机器人，可实现仿生空间三轴旋转。为充分释放该脊柱潜力，我们开发了专用强化学习框架，结合加速度课程学习策略与定制奖励函数（如疾驰步态奖励、脊柱波浪奖励、脊柱转向奖励），主动促进脊柱参与。实验表明，S-Cheetah在使用旋转式G2疾驰步态下最高速度达6.9米/秒，原地转向速率可达7.2弧度/秒。此外，系统展现出一种自发的猫科类空中自稳能力，可在自由落体中任意姿态下稳定着陆于四足。通过对多种运动任务的广泛评估，证明该3-DOF脊柱显著全面提升了四足机器人的运动敏捷性。项目官网：himmy-robotics.github.io/scheetah
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
The biological spine of quadrupeds enables sagittal flexion/extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation, playing a crucial role in highly agile and dexterous locomotion. While numerous studies have integrated active spinal joints into quadrupedal robots to enhance agility, most designs simplify control complexity by reducing spinal degrees of freedom (DOF), failing to achieve the spatial tri-axial rotation characteristic of biological spines. Consequently, replicating a multi-DOF biomimetic spine and effectively leveraging it to empower the agile locomotion of quadrupedal robots remains a significant research challenge. In this study, we present S-Cheetah, a quadrupedal robot featuring a 3-DOF bio-inspired serial active spine capable of biomimetic spatial tri-axial rotation. To empower the robot to fully utilize this active spine, we developed a specialized reinforcement learning framework to actively promote the engagement of the introduced spine and maximize the robot's locomotive capabilities by integrating an acceleration curriculum learning strategy with tailored reward functions, such as a gallop gait reward, a spine undulation reward, and a spine steering reward. Experimental results demonstrate that S-Cheetah can achieve a peak speed of 6.9 m/s using the rotary G2 gallop gait and an in-place turning rate of 7.2 rad/s. Besides, the system exhibits an emergent, feline-inspired aerial self-righting capability, allowing it to land stably on four feet from arbitrary orientations during free fall. Finally, through extensive evaluations across diverse locomotion tasks, we prove that the introduction of the proposed 3-DOF spine comprehensively enhances the locomotive agility of quadrupedal robots. Project website: himmy-robotics.github.io/scheetah
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