Training a policy for Digit to perform a deadlift isn’t just about Digit impressing colleagues – it lets us push the limits of our hardware and training methodologies. The heavier the object (in this case 65lbs) the more whole-body coordination we need in our controller, and the more resilience Digit’s actuators and joints require. By including whatever object we want Digit to lift in simulation as we train a new policy, we’re able to account for load distribution, grip forces, and changes to Digit’s center of mass – the result is a policy that translates to a dynamically balanced lift in the real world.
