AWARE

Unleashing the Agility of Wheeled-Legged Robots
for High-Dynamic Reflexive Obstacle Evasion

Adaptive Wheeled-Legged Avoidance and Reflexive Evasion

Yongen Zhao1,2, Zihao Xu3, Wenzhi Lu1, Zhen Chu4, Kailin Lyu2,5, Hao Sun6, and Ce Hao2 1School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China  ·  2Beijing Zhongguancun Academy, Beijing, China
3School of Computing, National University of Singapore, Singapore  ·  4Deep Robotics, Hangzhou, China
5Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China  ·  6Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd., Guangzhou, China

Overview

Abstract

Wheeled-legged robots combine the energy efficiency of wheeled locomotion with the terrain adaptability of legged systems, making them promising platforms for agile mobility in complex and dynamic environments. However, enabling high-dynamic reflexive evasion against fast-moving obstacles remains challenging due to the hybrid morphology, mode coupling, and non-holonomic constraints of such platforms. In this work, we propose AWARE (Adaptive Wheeled-Legged Avoidance and Reflexive Evasion), a hierarchical reinforcement learning framework for high-dynamic obstacle avoidance in wheeled-legged robots. The proposed system naturally exhibits diverse emergent gaits and evasive behaviors, including forward lunge and lateral dodge, thereby leveraging the robot's hybrid morphology to enhance agility under highly dynamic threats. Extensive experiments in Isaac Lab simulation and real-world deployment on the M20 platform across diverse dynamic scenarios demonstrate that AWARE achieves robust and agile obstacle avoidance while revealing behaviorally distinct evasive strategies. These results highlight both the practical effectiveness of AWARE and the intrinsic reflexive agility of wheeled-legged robots.

Method

Pipeline

AWARE Pipeline

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Evaluation

Simulation Experiments

Simulation results are organized into the general reflexive-evasion demonstration and the cruise-evade switching experiments.

Simulation Demo

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Cruise-Evade

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Simulation Videos

Simulation Demo

Reflexive Evasion Demo

Forward Lunge
Lateral Dodge

Cruise-Evade Switch

Cruise-Evade Dual
Cruise-Evade Dual
Flat Cruise-Evade V3

Physical Platform

Real Robot Demonstration

Real Robot Demonstration

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Real Robot Videos

Real Robot Demo

Mixed Mode

Mixed Mode — Box
Mixed Mode — Foot

Navigation-Level Evasion

Navigation-Level — XY Box
Navigation-Level — X Direction
Navigation-Level — Y Direction

Reflexive Evasion

Diagonal Ball — Stepping
Diagonal Box — Hybrid
Diagonal Box — Stepping
X Direction — Ball
X Direction — Box
XY Direction — Ball
Y Direction — Ball
Y Direction — Box