2026 IEEE-RAS 25th International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids)

REACH

An RL-based Hierarchical Humanoid Crawling Framework for Adaptable Confined Space Traversal

Shengzhang Xu1, Yuning Guo1, Weiyi Hu1, Yifeng Xu1, Zhongyu Li2, He Kong1,*

1School of Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing, Southern University of Science and Technology 2The Chinese University of Hong Kong

*Corresponding author: kongh@sustech.edu.cn

Video Project overview
REACH teaser: Unitree G1 transitions between bipedal walking and quadrupedal crawling under low-clearance obstacles

Abstract

Humanoid locomotion in confined spaces requires continuous height adaptation across multiple locomotion modes, yet most existing approaches remain limited to height-adjustable bipedal walking. We present REACH, an RL-based hierarchical framework that enables a Unitree G1 humanoid to traverse height-constrained environments through variable-height bipedal walking and crawling. The learned policies regulate body height over complementary command ranges of 1.27–0.50 m in bipedal locomotion and 0.50–0.20 m in crawling, extending traversal beyond the clearance limits of crouched walking. To address contact-rich crawling dynamics, we employ a history-conditioned latent representation that captures terrain and interaction context from proprioceptive observations. A bidirectional transition policy further connects crouched bipedal locomotion and crawling across large kinematic and contact discontinuities. These skills are integrated with a LiDAR-based planner that converts point clouds into collision-free three-dimensional paths and locomotion commands, including proactive height targets. Real-world experiments demonstrate accurate height and velocity tracking, robust terrain traversal, reliable mode transitions and confined-space traversal with the proposed pipeline.

Project Video

Overview of REACH: hierarchical locomotion, mode transitions, and real-world confined-space traversal on the Unitree G1.

Method

Hierarchical control for confined-space traversal: bidirectional mode transitions, history-conditioned latent policies, and LiDAR-driven planning.

REACH system overview with bidirectional transition, latent actor-critic training, high-level planner, and real-world crawling
Overview of REACH. (A) A bidirectional motion-tracking policy connects crouched bipedal locomotion and quadrupedal crawling. (B) The history-conditioned asymmetric actor–critic encodes proprioceptive histories and uses privileged information only for critic training. (C) A model-based planner converts LiDAR point clouds into locomotion and height commands. (D) Real-world trials demonstrate crawling through consecutive low-clearance obstacles.

Demos

Real-world Unitree G1 demos: mode transitions, variable-height walking, low-clearance crawling, and multi-obstacle confined traversal.

Bipedal to Crawling to Stand-Up

Variable-Height Bipedal Walking

Low-Clearance Quadrupedal Crawling

Multi-Obstacle Confined Traversal