IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,637,158
Granted Patent B2
US 12,637,158 · App. 18/444,491 · Granted May 26, 2026

Stair identification and traversal

Inventor: Adam Komoroski (Waltham, MA)
Assignee: Boston Dynamics, Inc.
B62D57/024B62B9/02B62D57/032G06F18/23G06V10/44G06V10/762G06V20/10
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,637,158
App. No.
18/444,491
Granted
May 26, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method of identifying stairs from footfalls includes receiving a plurality of footfall locations of a robot traversing an environment. Each respective footfall location indicates a location where a leg of the robot contacted a support surface. The method also includes determining a plurality of candidate footfall location pairs based on the plurality of footfall locations. The candidate footfall location pair includes a first and a second candidate footfall location. The method further includes clustering the first candidate footfall location into a first cluster group based on a height of the first candidate footfall location and clustering the second candidate footfall location into a second cluster group based on a height of the second candidate footfall location. The method additionally includes generating a stair model by representing each of the cluster groups as a corresponding stair and delineating each stair based on a respective midpoint between each adjacent cluster group.

Claims (71)

1 . A method conducted in a sequence according to a listed order of actions comprising:

implementing, by data processing hardware of a legged robot, from a set of modes of operation of the legged robot, a stair mode of the legged robot based on data associated with the legged robot, the stair mode for traversing a stair;

adjusting, by the data processing hardware, at least one of a height or an angle of a camera of the legged robot with respect to a surface located beneath the legged robot and contacted by two or more legs of the legged robot to result in the camera having at least one of an adjusted height or an adjusted angle, wherein adjusting the at least one of the height or the angle of the camera comprises adjusting at least one of a height or an angle of a body of the legged robot;

receiving, at the data processing hardware, image data via the camera having the at least one of the adjusted height or the adjusted angle;

identifying, by the data processing hardware, the stair using the image data received via the camera having the at least one of the adjusted height or the adjusted angle; and

instructing, by the data processing hardware, the legged robot to traverse, according to the stair mode, from the surface located beneath the legged robot to a landing surface of the stair.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

obtaining a map associated with an environment of the legged robot; and

identifying the stair within the environment based on the map, wherein implementing the stair mode is based on identifying the stair.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein implementing the stair mode comprises:

receiving instructions to operate according to the stair mode from a user computing device based on an operator engaging the stair mode.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining that a location of the legged robot corresponds to a location associated with a stair model, wherein implementing the stair mode is based on determining that the location of the legged robot corresponds to the location associated with the stair model,

wherein instructing the legged robot to traverse from the surface located beneath the legged robot to the landing surface comprises:

instructing the legged robot to traverse from the surface located beneath the legged robot to the landing surface based on the stair model.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the legged robot comprises four feet, wherein adjusting the at least one of the height or the angle of the camera further comprises:

adjusting the at least one of the height or the angle of the camera while the four feet are contacting the surface located beneath the legged robot.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the camera having the at least one of the adjusted height or the adjusted angle has a first field of view, and wherein the camera having the height and the angle has a second field of view different from the first field of view.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

adjusting a perception of the legged robot based on adjusting the at least one of the height or the angle of the camera.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying a center of the stair,

wherein instructing the legged robot to traverse from the surface located beneath the legged robot to the landing surface comprises:

instructing the legged robot to traverse from the surface located beneath the legged robot to the landing surface based on the center of the stair and the image data received via the camera having the at least one of the adjusted height or the adjusted angle.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein instructing the legged robot to traverse from the surface located beneath the legged robot to the landing surface comprises:

instructing the legged robot with the camera having the at least one of the adjusted height or the adjusted angle to traverse from the surface located beneath the legged robot to the landing surface.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the at least one of the height or the angle of the camera further comprises:

adjusting the at least one of the height or the angle of the camera in a first manner based on determining the legged robot is to descend the stair; or

adjusting the at least one of the height or the angle of the camera in a second manner different from the first manner based on determining the legged robot is to ascend the stair.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the camera comprises a camera facing the stair.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating a map based on the image data received via the camera having the at least one of the adjusted height or the adjusted angle,

wherein instructing the legged robot to traverse from the surface located beneath the legged robot to the landing surface comprises:

instructing the legged robot to traverse from the surface located beneath the legged robot to the landing surface based on the map.

13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating a stair model based on instructing the legged robot to traverse from the surface located beneath the legged robot to the landing surface; and

storing the stair model.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the at least one of the height or the angle of the camera further comprises:

adjusting the at least one of the height or the angle of the camera relative to the body.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the camera is at least one of rotatable or pivotable relative to the body.

16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying a height associated with the stair,

wherein instructing the legged robot to traverse from the surface located beneath the legged robot to the landing surface comprises:

instructing the legged robot to traverse from the surface located beneath the legged robot to the landing surface based on the height associated with the stair.

17 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying a height associated with the stair; and

determining the height associated with the stair matches or exceeds a threshold,

wherein instructing the legged robot to traverse from the surface located beneath the legged robot to the landing surface comprises:

instructing the legged robot to traverse from the surface located beneath the legged robot to the landing surface based on determining the height associated with the stair matches or exceeds the threshold.

18 . A robot comprising:

a body;

two or more legs coupled to the body and configured to traverse an environment; and

a control system comprising data processing hardware and memory hardware in communication with the data processing hardware, the memory hardware storing instructions, wherein execution of the instructions by the data processing hardware causes the data processing hardware to conduct a listed order of actions in a sequence according to the listed order of actions, the listed order of actions comprising:

implement, from a set of modes of operation of the robot, a stair mode of the robot based on data associated with the robot, the stair mode for traversing a stair;

adjust at least one of a height or an angle of a camera of the robot with respect to a surface located beneath the robot and contacted by the two or more legs to result in the camera having at least one of an adjusted height or an adjusted angle, wherein to adjust the at least one of the height or the angle of the camera the execution of the instructions by the data processing hardware causes the data processing hardware to adjust at least one of a height or an angle of the body;

receive image data via the camera having the at least one of the adjusted height or the adjusted angle;

identify the stair using the image data received via the camera having the at least one of the adjusted height or the adjusted angle; and

instruct the robot to traverse, according to the stair mode, from the surface located beneath the robot to a landing surface of the stair.

19 . A computing system comprising:

data processing hardware; and

memory hardware in communication with the data processing hardware, the memory hardware storing instructions, wherein execution of the instructions by the data processing hardware causes the data processing hardware to conduct a listed order of actions in a sequence according to the listed order of actions, the listed order of actions comprising:

implement, from a set of modes of operation of a legged robot, a stair mode of the legged robot based on data associated with the legged robot, the stair mode for traversing a stair;

adjust at least one of a height or an angle of a camera of the legged robot with respect to a surface located beneath the legged robot and contacted by two or more legs of the legged robot to result in the camera having at least one of an adjusted height or an adjusted angle, wherein to adjust the at least one of the height or the angle of the camera the execution of the instructions by the data processing hardware causes the data processing hardware to adjust at least one of a height or an angle of a body of the legged robot;

receive image data via the camera having the at least one of the adjusted height or the adjusted angle;

identify the stair using the image data received via the camera having the at least one of the adjusted height or the adjusted angle; and

instruct the legged robot to traverse, according to the stair mode, from the surface located beneath the legged robot to a landing surface of the stair.

20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein instructing the legged robot to traverse from the surface located beneath the legged robot to the landing surface of the stair comprises:

providing a stair model of the stair to a control system; and

instructing the legged robot to traverse from the surface located beneath the legged robot to the landing surface using the stair model in response to identifying the stair using the image data received via the camera having the at least one of the adjusted height or the adjusted angle.

21 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying an obstacle associated with the stair using the image data received via the camera having the at least one of the adjusted height or the adjusted angle.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 20, 2026
From: KOMOROSKI, ADAM
To: BOSTON DYNAMICS, INC.
Reel/Frame 073855/0915 →
Continuity (3)
Continuation 16877680 · May 19, 2020
Provisional Application 63012614 · Apr 20, 2020
Related Publication 20240193936A1 · Jun 13, 2024
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