# Robot support selection method cuts planning work in research tests

_Published Thursday, September 24, 2026 at 11:08 PM EDT · Robotics, Science · Latest · Tier 2 — Notable_

Researchers report a method that selects where a legged robot should brace itself during manipulation tasks while using approximately one-third the computation of evaluating every possible contact exactly. Tests covered 392 task conditions with nine available support surfaces, using simulations and hardware experiments with a Unitree Go2 quadruped and an AgileX NERO arm.

The method first screens possible contacts, estimates the capabilities of similar options from selected exact evaluations, then checks and ranks a shortlist. It weighs physical support against the reach and mobility a task still requires. The comparison is with exhaustive contact evaluation in the reported tests.

## Sources

- [arXiv Query: search_query=cat:cs.RO&id_list=&start=0&max_results=30](https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.30140v1)

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Canonical: https://techandbusiness.org/newswire/z7vl14pgINMwsP11a1KtsE
Published: 2026-09-25T03:08:01.355Z
Story chronology: 2026-09-24T17:08:28.000Z
Retrieved: 2026-09-25T04:52:01.529Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)