RMPflow Tuning Guide#

Given the number of parameters involved in fully specifying a complete set of RMPs, tuning an RMPflow-based motion policy for a new robot or task can be intimidating. In practice, however, parameters that work well for one robot are likely to work well for other robots with similar morphology. Furthermore, for a given robot, it is generally possible to choose a set of parameters that work well for a wide variety of tasks.

To review RMPflow and its features see, RMPflow.

NVIDIA Isaac Sim includes example RMPflow configuration files for multiple robot arms, including the 7-DOF Franka Emika Panda and the 6-DOF Universal Robots UR10. When tuning RMPflow for a new manipulator, it’s usually best to start with one of these two files. If the new robot is significantly larger or smaller than the one used as a reference, it might be necessary to rescale any parameters that have units of length. If the number of joints differ, the c-space_target_rmp/robust_position_term_thresh parameter might also have to be adjusted. Often, these steps are sufficient to produce a working motion policy.

If adapting an existing RMPflow configuration fails to produce acceptable results, use the following procedure to tune a new policy from scratch:

Hint

It can helpful to play with parameter values for an existing robot (for example, the Franka).

  1. Turn off all RMPs.

  2. Each RMP has a parameter called either metric_weight or metric_scalar. Setting this parameter to zero will disable the corresponding RMP. For the target RMP, set the parameters min_metric_scalar, max_metric_scalar, and min_metric_alpha all to zero.

  3. Set all inertia terms to zero (that is, c-space_target_rmp/inertia and damping_rmp/inertia).

  4. Re-enable RMPs one at a time, in the following suggested order:

    1. c-space_target_rmp: To get the robot moving to a configuration in c-space robustly. The magnitude of the metric scalar should be kept relatively small (for example, in the range 1 to 100), because this sets the global scale of all RMPs. Remember to set the default configuration in the robot description file (YAML) to a reasonable natural “ready” posture. This will be the default posture that the robot will favor while moving from place to place.

    2. target_rmp: To get the end effector moving to a target robustly while continuing to use the c-space target RMP for redundancy resolution.

      1. Set target_rmp/min_metric_alpha to zero and target_rmp/metric_alpha_length_scale to a large value relative to the size of the robot (in meters), such as 100,000. This effectively turns off the directional \(S\) term in the metric, reducing \(M\) to a simpler isotropic metric.

      2. Set target_rmp/proximity_metric_boost_length_scalar to 1 to turn off priority boosting.

      3. Set target_rmp/max_metric_scalar to a large value relative to c-space_target_rmp/metric_scalar so it dominates. This will effectively make the c-space target RMP operate purely in the nullspace of the target RMP.

      4. Tune target_rmp/accel_p_gain, target_rmp/accel_d_gain, and target_rmp/accel_norm_eps until good attractor behavior for the end effector has been achieved.

      5. Experiment with reducing target_rmp/max_metric_scalar to ensure that it’s not too large. As max_metric_scalar is increased toward a suitable value, convergence accuracy should progressively improve. If convergence accuracy saturates at small constant error before the chosen max_metric_scalar value is reached, then it is probably set too high. This will be relevant when re-enabling the directional term in the target RMP metric below, ensuring that it makes a difference when the metric scalar decreases.

    3. collision_rmp: Enable the collision avoidance RMP by setting collision_rmp/metric_scalar to a value comparable to target_rmp/max_metric_scalar. It can be useful to plot the formulas for the acceleration and metric to gain some understanding of the roles of the various parameters.

    4. target_rmp (redux): After the collision RMP is enabled, the system will probably drag near obstacles more slowly than it usually moves because the target RMP is fighting with the collision RMPs. Turning on the directional term in the metric will correct that effect.

      1. Plot the target RMP metric (as a function of distance from target) to build understanding. Try this first without the boosting term, noting how the metric transitions from the reduced-rank far metric to the full-rank near metric.

      2. Set target_rmp/min_metric_alpha to a non-zero value and reduce the value of target_rmp/metric_alpha_length_scale until good behavior is achieved.

    5. axis_target_rmp: If an orientation target is set, the axis target RMP will be used to bring the orientation of the control frame (for example, end effector) into alignment with the target orientation. This RMP includes a “priority boosting” factor that depends on distance to the current position target, if one is set. This allows the robot to make progress toward the position target before zeroing in on the desired orientation.

    6. joint_limit_rmp: When properly tuned, behavior should be unchanged, except that joint limits will be avoided.

    7. damping_rmp: Enable the damping RMP as well as target_rmp/inertia to reduce jerk as necessary.

Throughout this process, referring to an existing RMPflow configuration file is helpful.