Multi-Object Loco-Manipulation Using Body Holding Primitives for Humanoids

Although considerable research in humanoid robotics focuses on developing general manipulation capa- bilities, whole-body manipulation—leveraging all body links for manipulation tasks—has received limited attention. To explore the potential of whole-body manipulation, we propose a framework enabling humanoid robots to carry multiple objects simultaneously using their entire body. We introduce two types of body holding primitives: under-arm holding and wrist-torso holding, significantly expanding humanoid robot manipulation capabilities. To achieve the task of multi-objects loco-manipulation, we leverage compliant control to effectively stabilizes object holding using body links. Furthermore, we inte- grate existing learning-based whole-body locomotion controllers with a dynamic feedforward PID controller to generate accurate upper-body movements for manipulation while maintaining stable locomotion.