COSMIC: Concurrent Optimization of Structure, Material, and Integrated Control for robotic systems
A gradient-based co-design framework simultaneously optimizes topology, material distribution, and control policy for truss-lattice robots via a differentiable simulator and neural network controller, outperforming separated design approaches.
[2605.12654] COSMIC: Concurrent Optimization of Structure, Material, and Integrated Control for robotic systems
[Submitted on 12 May 2026]
Title:COSMIC: Concurrent Optimization of Structure, Material, and Integrated Control for robotic systems
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Abstract:Replicating and surpassing the autonomy of natural organisms remains a long-standing goal in robotics. Yet most robotic systems have their structure, materials, and control designed separately, in sharp contrast to the co-evolution in nature. This separation often leads to suboptimal designs, and we still have a limited understanding of the individual and collective contributions of these design entities. In this work, we propose a gradient-based co-design framework that simultaneously optimizes the topology, material distribution, and control policy of a truss-lattice robot. The framework embeds mixed-type topological and material variables into a continuous design space and integrates a neural network controller within a differentiable simulator, capturing their interactions and enabling efficient gradient calculation via automatic differentiation. Furthermore, we develop a constrained optimization to navigate the highly non-convex design landscape and jointly optimize all design entities. Case studies demonstrate that the proposed framework consistently discovers diverse locomotion strategies that outperform baselines obtained through separated design. The framework is also flexible to accommodate different functional requirements and boundary conditions. Using this framework, we further extract design insights that reveal the individual and collective effects of different entities on robotic performance. The proposed framework provides a computational foundation for the autonomous co-design of robotic systems, capable of reconfiguration, locomotion, and other complex autonomous behaviors.
Subjects:
Robotics (cs.RO)
Cite as: arXiv:2605.12654 [cs.RO]
(or arXiv:2605.12654v1 [cs.RO] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.12654
arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite
Submission history
From: Qinsong Guo [view email] [v1] Tue, 12 May 2026 19:00:01 UTC (7,913 KB)
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