(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2014)
Levihn, Martin; Nishiwaki, Koichi; Kagami, Satoshi; Stilman, Mike
Legged robots have unique capabilities to traverse
complex environments by stepping over and onto objects. Many
footstep planners have been developed to take advantage of
these capabilities. However, legged robots also have inherent
constraints such as a maximum step height and distance. These
constraints typically limit their reachable space, independent
of footstep planning. Thus, we propose that robots such as
humanoid robots that have manipulation capabilities should use
them. A robot should autonomously modify its environment if
necessary. We present a system that enabled a real robot to use
a box to create itself a stair step or place a board on the ground
to cross a gap, allowing it to reach its otherwise unreachable
goal configuration.