Advances, challenges, and opportunities for legged robots

2026-07-30

AI Summary

This study addresses the multifaceted technical and societal challenges hindering the large-scale deployment of legged robots—both humanoid and quadrupedal—and offers the first systematic synthesis of their developmental trajectory. Employing an integrated approach that combines systematic review, capability assessment, and interdisciplinary analysis, the work comprehensively evaluates current progress and bottlenecks across key dimensions, including hardware design, locomotion control, autonomy, data infrastructure, and application scenarios. The paper further proposes a holistic forward-looking framework that incorporates ethical, economic, and policy considerations to delineate core advancements and outstanding challenges. By bridging technological capabilities with societal implications, this research provides strategic guidance for future scientific inquiry and industrial implementation in the field of legged robotics.

Abstract

Humanoid and quadrupedal robots have the potential to revolutionize the way we work, interact, and coexist with intelligent machines. To understand their effects on society and how they can enable scientific discovery, we assess the current capabilities of these systems along hardware, locomotion, autonomy, data, and applications. We identify recent advances and key open challenges that must be overcome to enable widespread adoption and new use cases for legged robots. Last, we provide an outlook on the future of legged robots, exploring their ethical considerations, economic potential, policy implications, and broader societal effects.

Problem

• legged robots
• humanoid robots
• quadrupedal robots
• open challenges
• widespread adoption

Innovation

• legged robots
• humanoid robots
• quadrupedal robots
• autonomy
• robotics applications