Prototyping fast and agile motions for legged robots with Horizon

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how Horizon, an open-source trajectory optimization framework, enables rapid development of complex, agile motions for various legged robots, simplifying the process of dynamic motion planning.

Contribution

It introduces Horizon's tools and procedures for generating complex robotic motions, showcasing its effectiveness across multiple robotic platforms.

Findings

Horizon simplifies dynamic motion generation for legged robots.

The framework supports a broad range of behaviors and platforms.

It enables rapid prototyping of agile, contact-rich motions.

Abstract

For legged robots to perform agile, highly dynamic and contact-rich motions, whole-body trajectories computation of under-actuated complex systems subject to non-linear dynamics is required. In this work, we present hands-on applications of Horizon, a novel open-source framework for trajectory optimization tailored to robotic systems, that provides a collection of tools to simplify dynamic motion generation. Horizon was tested on a broad range of behaviours involving several robotic platforms: we introduce its building blocks and describe the complete procedure to generate three complex motions using its intuitive and straightforward API.