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arXiv · 2503.08375

Gait in Eight: Efficient On-Robot Learning for Omnidirectional Quadruped Locomotion

Nico Bohlinger·Jonathan Kinzel·Daniel Palenicek·Lukasz Antczak·Jan Peters
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Abstract

On-robot Reinforcement Learning is a promising approach to train embodiment-aware policies for legged robots. However, the computational constraints of real-time learning on robots pose a significant challenge. We present a framework for efficiently learning quadruped locomotion in just 8 minutes of raw real-time training utilizing the sample efficiency and minimal computational overhead of the new off-policy algorithm CrossQ. We investigate two control architectures: Predicting joint target positions for agile, high-speed locomotion and Central Pattern Generators for stable, natural gaits. While prior work focused on learning simple forward gaits, our framework extends on-robot learning to omnidirectional locomotion. We demonstrate the robustness of our approach in different indoor and outdoor environments.

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Nico Bohlinger, Jonathan Kinzel, Daniel Palenicek, Lukasz Antczak, Jan Peters. 2025-03-11. Gait in Eight: Efficient On-Robot Learning for Omnidirectional Quadruped Locomotion. https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.08375

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