Motion Tracking and Kinematic Planner with Keyboard Controls

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Video: Keyboard control walkthrough — starting the control system, playing reference motions, and using planner mode for real-time locomotion.

Control the robot using keyboard commands for reference motion playback and planner-based locomotion (using --input-type keyboard).

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Complete the [Quick Start](../getting_started/quickstart.md) to have the sim2sim loop running.

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Press **`O`** at any time to immediately stop control and exit. Always keep a hand near the keyboard ready to press **`O`**.

Launch

Sim2Sim (MuJoCo):

# Terminal 1 — MuJoCo simulator (from repo root)
source .venv_sim/bin/activate
python gear_sonic/scripts/run_sim_loop.py

# Terminal 2 — C++ deployment (from gear_sonic_deploy/)
bash deploy.sh --input-type keyboard sim

Real Robot:

# From gear_sonic_deploy/
bash deploy.sh --input-type keyboard real

Step-by-Step: Normal Mode (Reference Motion Tracking)

Normal Mode plays back pre-loaded reference motions. This is the default mode when the program starts.

1. In Terminal 2, press ] to start the control system.
2. In the MuJoCo window, press 9 to drop the robot to the ground.
3. Go back to Terminal 2, press T to play the current reference motion — the robot executes it to completion.
4. Press N to switch to the next motion sequence, or P for the previous one.
5. Press T again to play the new motion.
6. To replay the same motion, press T again after it finishes. To stop mid-motion and return to the first frame, press R — the robot pauses at the first frame without terminating the policy.
7. Use Q / E to nudge the heading left or right (±π/12 rad per press).
8. Press I to reinitialize the base quaternion and reset the heading to zero, i.e. robot will think the current facing is the facing at the first frame of the reference.
9. When done, press O to stop control and exit.

Step-by-Step: Planner Mode (Real-time Motion Generation)

Planner Mode lets you control the robot in real time — choose a locomotion style, steer with WASD, and adjust speed and height on the fly.

1. From Normal Mode, press ENTER to switch to Planner Mode. The terminal will print Planner enabled.
2. The robot starts in the Locomotion motion set. Press 1 for slow walk, 2 for walk, or 3 for run.
3. Press W to walk forward. The robot uses a momentum system — holding a direction key sets momentum to full; releasing it lets the robot gradually decelerate and return to idle.
4. Steer with A / D (adjust heading and moving direction together) or turn in place with Q / E (±π/6 rad per press, only facing direction).
5. Press , / . to strafe left / right.
6. Press S to move backward.
7. Adjust speed with 9 (decrease) / 0 (increase). Speed ranges depend on the current mode (see tables below).
8. Press N to cycle to the next motion set (Locomotion → Squat → Boxing → Styled Walking → …). Use P to go back.
9. Within a motion set, press 1–8 to pick a specific mode (see the Motion Sets section below).
10. For squat-type modes, adjust body height with - (lower) / = (higher), clamped to 0.2–0.8 m.
11. If you need an immediate halt, press R, `, or ~ — this resets movement momentum to zero instantly.
12. Press ENTER again to return to Normal Mode, or O to stop and exit.

Control Reference

System Controls (Both Modes)

Key	Action
]	Start control system
O	Stop control and exit (emergency stop)
ENTER	Toggle between Normal / Planner modes
I	Reinitialize base quaternion and reset heading
Z	Toggle encoder mode (between mode 0 and mode 1, if encoder loaded)
F	Report motor temperatures (TTS voice alert)

Normal Mode Keys

Key	Action
T	Play current motion to completion
R	Restart current motion from beginning (pause at frame 0)
P / N	Previous / Next motion sequence
Q / E	Adjust delta heading (at policy level) left / right (±π/12 rad)

Planner Mode Keys

Movement:

Key	Action
W / S	Move forward / backward
A / D	Adjust heading slightly and move forward (left / right)
, / .	Strafe left / right

Heading:

Key	Action
Q / E	Adjust facing direction (at planner level) left / right (±π/6 rad)
J / L	Adjust delta heading (at policy level) left / right (±π/12 rad)

Mode & Speed:

Key	Action
N / P	Next / Previous motion set
1–8	Select mode within the current set
9 / 0	Decrease / Increase movement speed
- / =	Decrease / Increase height (non-standing sets, 0.2–0.8 m)
T	Play motion

Emergency:

Key	Action
R / ` / ~	Emergency stop (immediate momentum reset)

Motion Sets

A motion set is a group of related movement styles (e.g., locomotion, gestures, or crouching). Selecting a mode within a set makes the robot behave in that style. Each set contains up to eight selectable modes.

Cycle through motion sets with N (next) / P (previous). Within each set, press 1–8 to select a mode. For more details on the underlying planner model, mode indices, and input/output specifications, see the Kinematic Planner ONNX Model Reference.

Set 0 — Locomotion (Standing)

Key	Mode	Speed Range
1	Slow Walk	0.2–0.8 m/s
2	Walk	—
3	Run	1.5–3.0 m/s
4	Happy	—
5	Stealth	—
6	Injured	—

For lateral (side-stepping) movement using **`,`** / **`.`**, we recommend keeping the target velocity at around **0.4 m/s**. Higher velocities during strafing can cause the robot's feet to collide due to the cross-legged foot placement required for lateral steps.

Set 1 — Squat / Ground

Height adjustable with - / = (0.2–0.8 m). Initial height defaults to 0.8 m when entering this set.

Key	Mode	Speed Range
1	Squat	static
2	Kneel (Two Legs)	static
3	Kneel (One Leg)	static
4	Hand Crawling	0.4–1.0 m/s
5	Elbow Crawling	0.7–1.0 m/s

Set 2 — Boxing

Key	Mode	Speed Range
1	Idle Boxing	static
2	Walk Boxing	0.7–1.5 m/s
3	Left Jab	0.7–1.5 m/s
4	Right Jab	0.7–1.5 m/s
5	Random Punches	0.7–1.5 m/s
6	Left Hook	0.7–1.5 m/s
7	Right Hook	0.7–1.5 m/s

Set 3 — Additional Styled Walking

Key	Mode
1	Careful
2	Object Carrying
3	Crouch
4	Happy Dance
5	Zombie
6	Point
7	Scared

Movement Momentum System

The planner usage in keyboard mode uses a momentum-based movement system:

• Pressing a direction key (W/S/A/D/,/.) sets momentum to 1.0 (full speed).
• Each frame without a direction key press, momentum decays multiplicatively (×0.999).
• When momentum drops below 0.1, the robot transitions to idle (for the Locomotion set) or holds the current static pose (for Squat and Boxing sets).
• Emergency stop (R/`/~) instantly resets momentum to zero.

This means you don't need to hold a key down — a single press starts movement, and the robot coasts to a stop naturally.