Simulating leaping, tumbling, landing and balancing humans

Abstract

This paper describes a technique for generating transitions between simulated behaviors. By parametrizing individual basis behaviors, we can design control systems such that the exit states of one leaves the simulated character in a valid initial state for the next. The parametrization allows one to generate a wide variety of motions from a single basis behavior. The nesting of the input and output states allows easy transitions between behaviors and generation of many behaviors from a small set of basis behaviors. We demonstrate this approach with four basis behaviors: leaping, tumbling, landing, and balancing. We demonstrate transitions by generating a diverse set of gymnastic behaviors, including a standing broad jump, vertical leap, forward somersault, backward somersault, back handspring, and various platform dives.