Locomotion

Loco-Manipulation

Loco-manipulation is the coordinated use of locomotion and manipulation, in which a legged or mobile robot's body motion and limb contacts jointly accomplish tasks such as opening doors, carrying loads, or pushing objects. On quadrupeds this includes using legs as manipulators or mounting an arm whose motion is coupled to the base; on humanoids it extends to whole-body control that trades balance against reach and force exertion.

Why it matters for physical AI

Useful work in human environments rarely separates moving from manipulating; whole-body policies that coordinate both unlock tasks like door traversal and heavy-object transport that arm-only or base-only control cannot achieve.