Whole-Body Nonlinear Model Predictive Control Through Contacts for Quadrupeds

In this letter, we present a whole-body nonlinear model predictive control approach for rigid body systems subject to contacts. We use a full-dynamic system model which also includes explicit contact dynamics. Therefore, contact locations, sequences, and timings are not prespecified but optimized by the solver. Yet, using numerical and software engineering allows for running the nonlinear Optimal Control solver at rates up to 190 Hz on a quadruped for a time horizon of half a second. This outperforms the state-of-the-art by at least one order of magnitude. Hardware experiments in the form of periodic and nonperiodic tasks are applied to two quadrupeds with different actuation systems. The obtained results underline the performance, transferability, and robustness of the approach.