Bi-Level Optimization for Contact and Motion Planning in Rope-Assisted Legged Robots
The work introduces a planning pipeline for rope-assisted robots climbing vertical surfaces using bi-level optimization to solve a mixed-integer problem. It selects optimal landing spots and terrain patches while simultaneously optimizing control inputs like rope tensions and leg forces. The outer loop uses the Cross-Entropy Method, and the inner loop uses gradient optimization to find dynamically feasible motions.