Locomotion

Stepping Stone Navigation

Stepping stone navigation is legged locomotion across terrain offering only sparse, discrete viable footholds — gaps, rubble, or literal stepping stones — where foot placement must be planned precisely rather than chosen freely. It couples perception (identifying safe foothold regions from depth or elevation maps) with footstep planning and dynamic balance under restricted contact choices. Perceptive reinforcement learning controllers, such as those demonstrated in ANYmal parkour work, handle such terrains end to end.

Why it matters for physical AI

Constrained footholds are the acid test separating blind gait controllers from perceptive locomotion, driving the integration of exteroception into policies that previously relied on proprioception alone.