VB-Com: Learning Vision-Blind Composite Humanoid Locomotion Against Deficient Perception

TL;DR

VB-Com is a framework that allows humanoid robots to switch between vision-based and proprioception-based locomotion strategies to maintain robustness and adaptability in challenging, perceptually noisy environments.

Contribution

The paper introduces VB-Com, a novel composite framework enabling humanoid robots to dynamically switch between vision and blind policies under perceptual deficiencies.

Findings

VB-Com improves terrain traversal despite perception noise.

The framework enables adaptive switching between policies.

Humanoid robots achieve more robust locomotion in dynamic environments.

Abstract

The performance of legged locomotion is closely tied to the accuracy and comprehensiveness of state observations. Blind policies, which rely solely on proprioception, are considered highly robust due to the reliability of proprioceptive observations. However, these policies significantly limit locomotion speed and often require collisions with the terrain to adapt. In contrast, Vision policies allows the robot to plan motions in advance and respond proactively to unstructured terrains with an online perception module. However, perception is often compromised by noisy real-world environments, potential sensor failures, and the limitations of current simulations in presenting dynamic or deformable terrains. Humanoid robots, with high degrees of freedom and inherently unstable morphology, are particularly susceptible to misguidance from deficient perception, which can result in falls or termination on challenging dynamic terrains. To leverage the advantages of both vision and blind policies, we propose VB-Com, a composite framework that enables humanoid robots to determine when to rely on the vision policy and when to switch to the blind policy under perceptual deficiency. We demonstrate that VB-Com effectively enables humanoid robots to traverse challenging terrains and obstacles despite perception deficiencies caused by dynamic terrains or perceptual noise.