SigLoMa: Learning Open-World Quadrupedal Loco-Manipulation from Ego-Centric Vision

Shiyi Chen, Haiyi Liu, Mingye Yang, Jiaqi Zhang, Debing Zhang
Tsinghua University

Abstract

Designing an open-world quadrupedal loco-manipulation system is highly challenging. Traditional reinforcement learning frameworks utilizing exteroception often suffer from extreme sample inefficiency and massive sim-to-real gaps. Furthermore, the inherent latency of visual tracking fundamentally conflicts with the high-frequency demands of precise floating-base control. Consequently, existing systems lean heavily on expensive external motion capture and off-board computation. To eliminate these dependencies, we present SigLoMa, a fully onboard, ego-centric vision-based pick-and-place framework. At the core of SigLoMa is the introduction of Sigma Points, a lightweight geometric representation for exteroception that guarantees high scalability and native sim-to-real alignment. To bridge the frequency divide between slow perception and fast control, we design an ego-centric Kalman Filter to provide robust, high-rate state estimation. On the learning front, we alleviate sample inefficiency via an Active Sampling Curriculum guided by Hint Poses, and tackle the robot's structural visual blind spots using temporal encoding coupled with simulated random-walk drift. Real-world experiments validate that, relying solely on a 5Hz (200 ms latency) open-vocabulary detector, SigLoMa successfully executes dynamic loco-manipulation across multiple tasks, achieving performance comparable to expert human teleoperation.

Kalman Filter Task

First-person view
Green dots indicate object detection outputs (5 Hz, 200 ms latency); white circles show filtered estimates (50 Hz)

Third-person view
Robot motion corresponding to the left video

Continuous Picking Task

Duck toy picking

Tennis ball picking

Elongated Object Picking Task

Litter pickup

Water bottle pickup

Key Contributions

  • Sigma Points: A lightweight geometric representation for exteroception that guarantees high scalability and native sim-to-real alignment.
  • Ego-Centric Kalman Filter: Provides robust, high-rate state estimation to bridge the frequency divide between slow perception and fast control.
  • Active Sampling Curriculum (ASC): Guided by Hint Poses to alleviate sample inefficiency.
  • Temporal Encoding with Random Walk Drift: Tackles the robot's structural visual blind spots.
  • Fully Onboard System: Relying solely on a 5Hz open-vocabulary detector, achieving performance comparable to expert human teleoperation.