Trajectory Optimization For Hybrid Walking-Driving Motions On Wheeled Quadrupedal Robots

Wheeled-legged (hybrid) robots have the potential for highly agile and versatile locomotion in any real-world application requiring rapid, long-distance mobility skills on challenging terrain. The ability to walk and drive simultaneously is an attractive feature of these hybrid systems, but is unexplored in literature. This thesis work presents...

Fast Self-Stable Planar Bipedal Running

Bipedal running gaits may be self-stable if they rely on the intrinsic system dynamics to attenuate deviations. This use of passive dynamics for gait stability has been observed in biological running and applied for running robotics, supported with the results of numerical simulations. It is an important aspect of the development of fast and...

Design of a magnetic coupling for reducing maintenance in long-term-autonomous bio-inspired underwater vehicles

Bio-inspired underwater vehicles are highly researched as a means for low-invasive monitoring. As a result, the performance of these vehicles has improved greatly. Research has thus far been directed towards the performances of the swimming motion. In order for the development of these bio-inspired underwater vehicles to continue, the increased...

A robust real-time gait detection method for spinal cord injury rehabilitation

In a recent first-in-human clinical study, a therapy based on targeted epidural electrical stimulation together with body weight support has been validated to restore voluntary locomotion in chronically paralyzed subjects with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). However, the system is currently open-loop controlled, meaning that the stimulation pattern...

Decentralized cooperative manipulation and consensus through object sensing: Applied to the aerial towing problem

With the decrease in sensor and actuator costs decentralized control strategies have become increasingly attractive, aiming to use multiple simpler robots for achieving a global objective. The problem of reaching the global objective generally results in a consensus problem requiring communication amongst the agents. The cooperative manipulation...

Benchmarking gait models for simulating the influence of body weight unloading on human gait

Energy-Optimized Toed Walking on Flexible Soles for Humanoids

In this research the role of thick flexible soles in energy-efficient humanoid walking is analyzed. It is<br/>hypothesized that, the addition of underactuated degrees of freedom under the foot gives the robot<br/>the potential to execute a pseudo-passive walking motion 1, which yields a decrease in ankle torque<br/>and energy expenditure....

Towards incremental kinesthetic teaching of bipedal walking

The large dimensionality of walking motions is a challenge for robot learning. The human seems designated to assist in this learning process, because of their aptness in walking. This paper presents a step in the investigation how a human can teach a robot a walking-like motion using incremental kinesthetic teaching. This approach lets the human...