Hexapod walking in-game

At GoodAI, we like robotics, both real and simulated. Cognition and thinking have deep connections to the physical world and the ability to navigate and operate in the physical world correlates with the ability to think and plan in the abstract mental space. The Robotic Legs case study utilizes Space Engineers as a test bed to experiment with QD-driven walking robots.
After exploring in detail the possibilities and challenges that physical simulation of multi-legged robots brings, we developed a general 6-legged controller. It is designed to support tripod gait in forward and backward directions, turning while standing, adaptation to uneven terrain and moderate slopes and both autonomous navigation and control by keyboard.
The controller is open-loop which means that it does not react to the particular shape of the terrain beneath its feet. We expanded the robotic controller with an ability to sense the distance of the leg end effectors to the terrain, which allowed us to adapt the gait to the terrain. The video below shows an assembled robot with hyperparameters tuned, walking on in-game terrain.
GoodAI is a sister company of Keen Software House, creators of Space Engineers. The game feature described is in development with potential for future improvements.
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[@garoeperezizquierdo4080]

Time to try new walkers

[@Sim-ib1xn]

That's amazing! Are the blocks at the end of the legs new block (non vanilla)? Do they sense the ground?

[@GoodAI]

Just an alert - the blocks are not yet ready for release in SE; we put them together by overloading wheel blocks. They can be considered as new blocks and yes, they can sense the ground, using raycasts

[@PTheOTHERaccountlmaoM]

@@GoodAI wait a sec, this tech is coming to SE?

[@billymonday8388]

paper?

[@GoodAI]

You can check out: quality-diversity.github.io/ It was a valuable resource on Quality Diversity algorithms during development.

[@billymonday8388]

@@GoodAI very nice, thanks