How Tactile Sensing Is Turning Quadrupeds into Agile Load Carriers
A new CMU–UW–Google DeepMind system called LocoTouch is giving quadruped robots a human-like sense of balance—letting them carry unsecured loads across complex terrain using a full-back tactile sensor array trained in simulation. The result: robots that can adapt on the fly to shifting payloads, obstacles, and real-world disruptions.
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00:00:02 Balancing a tray of food or a stack of moving boxes is second nature for humans, thanks to the seamless coordination between our muscular and vestibular systems. For robots, however, maintaining balance, especially while carrying unsteady loads, is a far greater challenge. To push the boundaries of robotic capability, researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in collaboration with The University of Washington and Google Deepmind, have developed a new tactile sensing system that enables four-legged robots to carry unsecured, cylindrical objects on their backs. Remarkably, the robot can transport these objects over 60 meters while navigating around cones and stepping over obstacles. This system, known as LocoTouch, features a network of tactile sensors that spans the robot’s entire back. As an object shifts, the sensors provide real-time feedback on its position,
00:00:52 allowing the robot to continuously adjust its posture and movement to keep the object balanced. The key to LocoTouch’s success is its sophisticated sensor design. Each sensing unit sits at the junction of conductive electrodes and contains a piezoresistive film. When pressure from a moving object deforms the film, the electrodes instantly detect the change and signal the robot to respond accordingly. To train the robot, the team deployed over 4,000 digital twins of the robot dog into a simulated environment. Here the robots learned how to adjust for nearly any movement that an object on its back might make. Now, the robot can dynamically adjust its balance not just to terrain changes, but also to sudden disturbances, like a person nudging the object mid-walk. In tests, it successfully carried a variety of objects over long distances, maintaining stability the entire way.
00:01:42 Looking ahead, the research team plans to expand the LocoTouch system to cover the robot’s full body. This advancement in tactile sensing brings us closer to a future where agile, quadrupedal robots can assist with real-world tasks like carrying loads, navigating unpredictable environments, and working safely alongside humans.