Feedback Control for Autonomous Riding of Hovershoes by a Cassie Bipedal Robot

Abstract: Motivated towards achieving multi-modal locomotion, in this paper, we develop a framework for a bipedal robot to dynamically ride a pair of Hovershoes over various terrain. Our developed control strategy enables the Cassie bipedal robot to interact with the Hovershoes to balance, regulate forward and rotational velocities, achieve fast turns, and move over flat terrain, slopes, stairs, and rough outdoor terrain. Our sensor suite comprising of tracking and depth cameras for visual SLAM as well as our Dijkstra-based global planner and timed elastic band-based local planning framework enables us to achieve autonomous riding on the Hovershoes while navigating an obstacle course. We present numerical and experimental validations of our work.