Locomotion Beyond Feet

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2601.03607v1
• Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2026 05:36:39 GMT
• Title: Locomotion Beyond Feet
• Abstract summary: Locomotion Beyond Feet is a comprehensive system for whole-body humanoid locomotion across challenging terrains.<n>Our approach addresses two key challenges: contact-rich motion planning and generalization across diverse terrains.<n>Keyframes encode human knowledge of motor skills, are embodiment-specific, and can be readily validated in simulation or on hardware.
• Score: 35.148387990120014
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: Most locomotion methods for humanoid robots focus on leg-based gaits, yet natural bipeds frequently rely on hands, knees, and elbows to establish additional contacts for stability and support in complex environments. This paper introduces Locomotion Beyond Feet, a comprehensive system for whole-body humanoid locomotion across extremely challenging terrains, including low-clearance spaces under chairs, knee-high walls, knee-high platforms, and steep ascending and descending stairs. Our approach addresses two key challenges: contact-rich motion planning and generalization across diverse terrains. To this end, we combine physics-grounded keyframe animation with reinforcement learning. Keyframes encode human knowledge of motor skills, are embodiment-specific, and can be readily validated in simulation or on hardware, while reinforcement learning transforms these references into robust, physically accurate motions. We further employ a hierarchical framework consisting of terrain-specific motion-tracking policies, failure recovery mechanisms, and a vision-based skill planner. Real-world experiments demonstrate that Locomotion Beyond Feet achieves robust whole-body locomotion and generalizes across obstacle sizes, obstacle instances, and terrain sequences.

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