robotics
The Wheeled Biped Feels the Ground Without Contact Sensors
RAIWAY distills simulated wheel-terrain contacts into a latent state inferred from proprioception, then climbs tested outdoor stairs with 15-centimeter risers.
Summary
RAIWAY distills simulated wheel-terrain contacts into a latent state inferred from proprioception, then climbs tested outdoor stairs with 15-centimeter risers.
Wheel-terrain contact is difficult to instrument directly and depends on more than visible geometry. RAIWAY pairs a large-wheeled biped with a controller that uses contact labels available in simulation to learn a compact latent representation. At deployment, the robot estimates that state from proprioception alone rather than direct contact sensing. The authors report real-world runs over steep slopes, gravel, studded surfaces and rocky terrain, including continuous ascent on the tested outdoor staircases with risers up to 15 centimeters. On their platform, the contact-informed controller also outperformed variants without that mechanism. The results belong to the in-house robot and evaluated environments; they do not establish general blind mobility for arbitrary terrain.
Why it matters
RAIWAY distills simulated wheel-terrain contacts into a latent state inferred from proprioception, then climbs tested outdoor stairs with 15-centimeter risers.
Limits and context
- The results belong to the in-house robot and evaluated environments; they do not establish general blind mobility for arbitrary terrain.
Key claims
RAIWAY distills simulated wheel-terrain contacts into a latent state inferred from proprioception, then climbs tested outdoor stairs with 15-centimeter risers.
Qualification: The results belong to the in-house robot and evaluated environments; they do not establish general blind mobility for arbitrary terrain.
Evidence: source-2026-10-27-008
Sources
- arXiv preprint 2610.33172, original v1arXiv · primary research
Corrections
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