Systems and methods for ground plane estimation

A robotic device including:

• a body;
• two or more legs extending from the body;
• at least one processor;
• and
• non-transitory data storage comprising program logic executable by the at least one processor to cause the robotic device to perform functions comprising:
• determining an orientation of the body of the robotic device with respect a gravity aligned reference frame;
• determining a location of one or more contact points between the robotic device and a ground surface;
• determining a ground plane estimation of the ground surface based on the determined orientation of the robotic device with respect to the gravity aligned reference frame and the determined locations of the one or more contact points between the robotic device and the ground surface, wherein the ground plane estimation includes an approximation of a shape of the ground surface;
• determining a distance between the body of the robotic device and the determined ground plane estimation;
• and
• providing instructions to adjust a position of the robotic device based on the determined distance and the determined ground plane estimation.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions, that when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to carry out functions comprising:

• determining an orientation of a body of a robotic device with respect to a gravity aligned reference frame;
• determining a location of one or more contact points between the robotic device and a ground surface;
• determining a ground plane estimation of the ground surface based on the determined orientation of the robotic device with respect to the gravity aligned reference frame and the determined locations of the one or more contact points between the robotic device and the ground surface, wherein the ground plane estimation includes an approximation of a shape of the ground surface;
• determining a distance between the body of the robotic device and the determined ground plane estimation, and
• providing instructions to adjust a position of the robotic device based on the determined distance and the determined ground plane estimation.