Motion Tracking and Kinematic Planner with Gamepad Controls

Motion Tracking and Kinematic Planner with Gamepad Controls#

Control the robot using a Unitree wireless gamepad for reference motion playback and planner-based locomotion (using --input-type gamepad).

Prerequisites

Complete the Installation Guide and build the project before proceeding.

Warning

The gamepad interface requires a physical Unitree wireless gamepad connected to the robot. It is not available in sim2sim — use the keyboard interface to test in simulation first.

Emergency Stop

Press Select at any time to immediately stop control and exit. Always keep a hand ready to press Select.

Launch#

# From gear_sonic_deploy/
bash deploy.sh real --input-type gamepad

Step-by-Step: Normal Mode (Reference Motion Tracking)#

Normal Mode plays back pre-loaded reference motions. This is the default mode when the program starts.

  1. Press Start to start the control system.

  2. Press A to play the current reference motion — the robot executes it to completion.

  3. Press R1 to switch to the next motion sequence, or L1 for the previous one.

  4. Press A again to play the new motion.

  5. To stop mid-motion and return to the first frame, press B — the robot pauses without terminating the policy.

  6. Use D-pad Left / Right to nudge the heading (±0.1 rad per press).

  7. Press X or Y to reinitialize the base quaternion and reset the heading to zero, i.e. robot will think the current facing is the facing at the first frame of the reference.

  8. When done, press Select to stop control and exit.

Step-by-Step: Planner Mode (Real-time Motion Generation)#

Planner Mode gives you analog stick control — steer with the left stick, aim the facing direction with the right stick, and cycle through locomotion modes.

  1. From Normal Mode, press F1 to switch to Planner Mode. The terminal will print Planner enabled.

  2. The robot starts in Slow Walk mode (mode 1). Push the left stick forward to walk — movement direction is computed from the stick angle relative to the current facing direction.

  3. Steer the right stick left / right to smoothly rotate the facing direction (continuous, ±0.02 rad per frame).

  4. Press R1 to cycle to the next movement mode (Idle → Slow Walk → Walk → Run → Squat → Kneel Two Legs → Kneel → Idle → …). Press L1 to cycle backward.

  5. Hold R2 to increase speed (for standing modes 1–3) or height (for squat modes 4–6). Hold L2 to decrease. Speed/height changes by ±0.02 per frame while held.

  6. When the left stick is in the dead zone, standing modes automatically switch to Idle; squat/kneel modes hold their pose with speed 0.

  7. To pause, press B — the robot resets to Idle immediately.

  8. Press F1 again to return to Normal Mode, or Select to stop and exit.

Control Reference#

System Controls (Both Modes)#

Button

Action

Start

Start control system

Select

Stop control and exit (emergency stop)

F1

Toggle between Normal / Planner modes

X or Y

Reinitialize base quaternion and reset heading

D-pad Left / Right

Adjust delta heading (±0.1 rad)

Normal Mode Buttons#

Button

Action

A

Play current motion to completion

B

Restart current motion from beginning (pause at frame 0)

L1 / R1

Previous / Next motion sequence

Planner Mode Buttons#

Movement:

Input

Action

Left Stick

Movement direction (computed from stick angle + facing direction)

Right Stick

Facing direction (continuous rotation, ±0.02 rad/frame)

Mode & Speed:

Button

Action

L1 / R1

Previous / Next movement mode (cycles 0–6)

L2 (hold)

Decrease speed (modes 1–3) or height (modes 4–6), ±0.02/frame

R2 (hold)

Increase speed (modes 1–3) or height (modes 4–6), ±0.02/frame

A

Play / resume motion

Emergency:

Button

Action

B

Pause (reset to Idle)

Select

Stop control and exit

Movement Modes#

The gamepad cycles through 7 modes with L1 / R1. Use L2 / R2 (hold) to adjust speed or height.

ID

Mode

L2/R2 Adjusts

Range

0

Idle

—

—

1

Slow Walk

speed

0.2–0.8 m/s

2

Walk

speed

0.8–1.5 m/s

3

Run

speed

1.5–3.0 m/s

4

Squat

height

0.1–0.8 m

5

Kneel (two legs)

—

—

6

Kneel

—

—

Tip

For lateral (side-stepping) movement, we recommend keeping the target velocity at around 0.4 m/s. Higher velocities during strafing can cause the robot’s feet to collide due to the cross-legged foot placement required for lateral steps.

Note

When entering Squat (mode 4) from an adjacent mode, the height automatically initializes to 0.8 m.

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