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Compliance in actuation has been exploited to generate highly dynamic maneuvers such as throwing that take advantage of the potential energy stored in joint springs. However, the energy storage and release could not be well-timed yet. On…
Back injuries are the most prevalent work-related musculoskeletal disorders and represent a major cause of disability. Although innovations in wearable robots aim to alleviate this hazard, the majority of existing exoskeletons are obtrusive…
Safety concerns during the operation of legged robots must be addressed to enable their widespread use. Machine learning-based control methods that use model-based constraints provide promising means to improve robot safety. This study…
The integration of Supernumerary Limbs (SLs) on humanoid robots poses a significant stability challenge due to the dynamic perturbations they introduce. This thesis addresses this issue by designing a novel hierarchical control architecture…
Handed Shearing Auxetics (HSA) are a promising structure for making electrically driven robots with distributed compliance that convert a motors rotation and torque into extension and force. We overcame past limitations on the range of…
Walking quadruped robots face challenges in positioning their feet and lifting their legs during gait cycles over uneven terrain. The robot Laika is under development as a quadruped with a flexible, actuated spine designed to assist with…
Unlike their large-scale counterparts, small-scale robots are largely confined to laboratory environments and are rarely deployed in real-world settings. As robot size decreases, robot-terrain interactions fundamentally change; however,…
The human arm exhibits remarkable capabilities, including both explosive power and precision, which demonstrate dexterity, compliance, and robustness in unstructured environments. Developing robotic systems that emulate human-like…
The kinematic features of a centaur-type humanoid platform, combined with a powerful actuation, enable the experimentation of a variety of agile and dynamic motions. However, the higher number of degrees-of-freedom and the increased weight…
Dynamic hand gestures play a pivotal role in assistive human-robot interaction (HRI), facilitating intuitive, non-verbal communication, particularly for individuals with mobility constraints or those operating robots remotely. Current…
Throwing with a legged robot involves precise coordination of object manipulation and locomotion - crucial for advanced real-world interactions. Most research focuses on either manipulation or locomotion, with minimal exploration of tasks…
Partial-assistance exoskeletons hold significant potential for gait rehabilitation by promoting active participation during (re)learning of normative walking patterns. Typically, the control of interaction torques in partial-assistance…
While humans are highly capable of recovering from external disturbances and uncertainties that result in large tracking errors, humanoid robots have yet to reliably mimic this level of robustness. Essential to this is the ability to…
SLOT (Soft Legged Omnidirectional Tetrapod), a tendon-driven soft quadruped robot with 3D-printed TPU legs, is presented to study physics-informed modeling and control of compliant legged locomotion using only four actuators. Each leg is…
Series elastic actuators (SEAs) are growingly important in physical human-robot interaction (HRI) due to their inherent safety and compliance. Cable-driven SEAs also allow flexible installation and remote torque transmission, etc. However,…
Soft robotics has emerged as a promising technology that holds great potential for various application areas. This is due to soft materials unique properties, including flexibility, safety, and shock absorption, among others. Despite many…
Soft robotics, with their inherent flexibility and infinite degrees of freedom (DoF), offer promising advancements in human-machine interfaces. Particularly, pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs) and pneumatic bending actuators have been…
Wheel-legged robots combine the efficiency of wheeled locomotion with the versatility of legged systems, enabling rapid traversal over both continuous and discrete terrains. However, conventional designs typically employ fixed wheels as…
Controller design for bipedal walking on dynamic rigid surfaces (DRSes), which are rigid surfaces moving in the inertial frame (e.g., ships and airplanes), remains largely uninvestigated. This paper introduces a hierarchical control…
Modulating the stiffness of soft actuators is crucial for improving the efficiency of interaction with the environment. However, current stiffness modulation mechanisms are hard to achieve high lateral stiffness and a wide range of bending…