2021–2025
SCALER
SCALER (Spine-enhanced Climbing Autonomous Limbed Exploration Robot) is a quadruped-limbed robot designed for free-climbing in extreme terrains.
It integrates tightly coupled locomotion and grasping (loco-grasping) to traverse vertical, overhang, upside-down, slippery surfaces, and bouldering walls under Earth's gravity.
It uses multi-modal grasping strategies, whole-body approaches, and dynamic climbing gaits to enhance its climbing capabilities.
Research focus
- Published in IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO), 2025
- 7 IEEE Publications
- Quadrupedal free-climbing
- Loco-grasping
- Parallel mechanisms
Project story
Images and demonstrations
20 media items
01 / Robotics architecture
The parallel torso, articulated limbs, and GOAT grippers that make the platform possible.
Parallel linkage limb design
Strictly coupled loco-grasping: SCALER balances power-intensive locomotion and dexterous grasping.
Motion study
02Torso mechanism
DocumentationTorso motion
Motion study
04GOAT gripper mechanism
Documentation02 / Locomotion
Ground and contact-rich movement across changing terrain.
Ground trot
Motion studyTrotting with payload
Motion studyDynamic climbing
Motion studyMulti-modal grasping
Motion study03 / Vertical terrain
Whole-body climbing across walls, overhangs, and ceilings.
Vertical climbing with payload
Motion studyOverhang climbing
Motion studyUpside-down ceiling walking
Motion studyUpside-down walking on a slippery surface
Motion studySidepull climbing
Motion studyGround locomotion with payload
Motion study04 / In the field
Public demonstrations and a complete project overview.
01SCALER award
DocumentationSCALER video
FilmKey characteristics
Multi-modal grasping
Employs C-GOAT grippers, which enable 7 grasping modes.
Whole-body approach
The robot uses its body and limbs to generate extra forces for stable grasping.
Dynamic climbing
Improves actuation speed for faster grasping and climbing.
Versatile terrain navigation
Successfully climbs vertical walls, overhangs, ceilings, and slippery surfaces.
Spine-enhanced free climbing
Combines mechanical design and force control to enhance climbing stability.
Publications & related research
SCALER: Versatile Multi-Limbed Robot for Free-Climbing in Extreme Terrains (TRO) →SCALER paper (IROS 2022) →Contact-rich planner (IROS 2022) →GOAT gripper (IROS 2021) →Adaptive force control (Humanoid 2023) →OptiState state estimation (ICRA 2024) →Real-to-Sim residual prediction (UR 2023) →SCALER video →