Quadruped robots are getting faster and more agile all the time. They can already run pretty fast. Quadruped Frog is about optimizing continuous quadruped jumping online. In the past, these behaviors were optimized offline.
As the researchers explain, they designed:
foot force profiles parameterized by only a few parameters which we optimize for directly on hardware with Bayesian Optimization. The force profiles are tracked at the joint level, and added to Cartesian PD impedance control and Virtual Model Control to stabilize the jumping motions.Â
This approach allows for forward, lateral, and twist jumps. A Go1 robot was used for this. It can jump 0.5m high and 0.5m forward.