Arm and body coordination

A robot comprising:

• a base;
• an articulated arm coupled to the base;
• data processing hardware comprising an arm controller and a base controller;
• and
• memory hardware storing instructions that when executed by the data processing hardware cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising:
• receiving, at an arm controller of a robot, a task request defining a task for the robot to perform using an articulated arm of the robot;
• generating, by the arm controller, i) instructions for controlling the articulated arm to perform the task request and ii) at least one balance parameter identifying anticipated forces applied by the articulated arm performing the task;
• providing the at least one balance parameter to a base controller of the robot;
• and
• instructing, by the base controller, a base of the robot to counter-balance the articulated arm performing the task based on the at least one balance parameter.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium of a robot comprising a base and an articulated arm coupled to the base, the storage medium comprising instructions that when executed by a data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

• receiving, at an arm controller of the data processing apparatus, a task request defining a task for the robot to perform using an articulated arm of the robot;
• generating, by the arm controller, i) instructions for controlling the articulated arm to perform the task request and ii) at least one balance parameter identifying anticipated forces applied by the articulated arm performing the task;
• providing the at least one balance parameter to a base controller of the data processing apparatus;
• and
• instructing, by the base controller, a base of the robot to counter-balance the articulated arm performing the task based on the at least one balance parameter.