Dynamic Modeling and MPC for Locomotion of Tendon-Driven Soft Quadruped

TL;DR

This paper introduces a physics-informed modeling and MPC control framework for a tendon-driven soft quadruped robot with 3D-printed TPU legs, enabling stable and accurate locomotion with minimal actuators.

Contribution

It presents a scalable, physically consistent modeling approach for soft legged robots integrated with a real-time MPC controller for stable locomotion.

Findings

Achieved less than 5 mm RMSE in center of mass trajectories during experiments.

Demonstrated stable crawling and walking gaits under diverse perturbations.

Validated the modeling and control framework on a physical prototype.

Abstract

SLOT (Soft Legged Omnidirectional Tetrapod), a tendon-driven soft quadruped robot with 3D-printed TPU legs, is presented to study physics-informed modeling and control of compliant legged locomotion using only four actuators. Each leg is modeled as a deformable continuum using discrete Cosserat rod theory, enabling the capture of large bending deformations, distributed elasticity, tendon actuation, and ground contact interactions. A modular whole-body modeling framework is introduced, in which compliant leg dynamics are represented through physically consistent reaction forces applied to a rigid torso, providing a scalable interface between continuum soft limbs and rigid-body locomotion dynamics. This formulation allows efficient whole-body simulation and real-time control without sacrificing physical fidelity. The proposed model is embedded into a convex model predictive control framework that optimizes ground reaction forces over a 0.495 s prediction horizon and maps them to tendon actuation through a physics-informed force-angle relationship. The resulting controller achieves asymptotic stability under diverse perturbations. The framework is experimentally validated on a physical prototype during crawling and walking gaits, achieving high accuracy with less than 5 mm RMSE in center of mass trajectories. These results demonstrate a generalizable approach for integrating continuum soft legs into model-based locomotion control, advancing scalable and reusable modeling and control methods for soft quadruped robots.