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Human motion prediction is an essential step for efficient and safe human-robot collaboration. Current methods either purely rely on representing the human joints in some form of neural network-based architecture or use regression models…
Ground reaction force sensing is one of the key components of gait analysis in legged locomotion research. To measure continuous force data during locomotion, we present a novel compound instrumented treadmill design. The treadmill is 1.7m…
Environments with large terrain height variations present great challenges for legged robot locomotion. Drawing inspiration from fire ants' collective assembly behavior, we study strategies that can enable two ``connectable'' robots to…
Prototyping robotic systems is a time consuming process. Computer aided design, however, might speed up the process significantly. Quality-diversity evolutionary approaches optimise for novelty as well as performance, and can be used to…
Creating natural-looking running gaits for humanoid robots is a complex task due to the underactuated degree of freedom in the trunk, which makes the motion planning and control difficult. The research on trunk movements in human locomotion…
Dynamic jumping on high platforms and over gaps differentiates legged robots from wheeled counterparts. Dynamic locomotion on abrupt surfaces, as opposed to walking on rough terrains, demands the integration of proprioceptive and…
This paper presents a method for achieving high-speed running of a quadruped robot by considering the actuator torque-speed operating region in reinforcement learning. The physical properties and constraints of the actuator are included in…
Realizing bipedal locomotion on humanoid robots with point feet is especially challenging due to their highly underactuated nature, high degrees of freedom, and hybrid dynamics resulting from impacts. With the goal of addressing this…
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…
Tip-growing eversion robots are renowned for their ability to access remote spaces through narrow passages. However, achieving reliable navigation remains a significant challenge. Existing solutions often rely on artificial muscles…
For humanoid robots to live up to their potential utility, they must be able to robustly recover from instabilities. In this work, we propose a number of balance enhancements to enable the robot to both achieve specific, desired footholds…
Faced with complex and unstructured construction environments, wheeled and tracked robots exhibit significant limitations in terrain adaptability and flexibility, making it difficult to meet the requirements of autonomous operation.…
Despite impressive advancements of industrial collaborative robots, their potential remains largely untapped due to the difficulty in balancing human safety and comfort with fast production constraints. To help address this challenge, we…
The purpose of this research is to design, fabricate and test a tendon driven a continuum soft robot with three modular segments, each of which has a tunable stiffness enabled by layer jamming technology. Compared with previous studies, the…
Legged locomotion in humans is governed by natural dynamics of the human body and neural control. One mechanism that is assumed to contribute to the high efficiency of human walking is the impulsive ankle push-off, which potentially powers…
To construct a robot that can walk as efficiently and steadily as humans or other legged animals, we develop an enhanced elitist-mutated ant colony optimization~(EACO) algorithm with genetic and crossover operators in real-time applications…
We introduce a new, analytical method for generating whole-body motions for humanoid robots, which approximate the desired Composite Rigid Body (CRB) inertia. Our approach uses a reduced five mass model, where four of the masses are…
This paper presents a curriculum-based reinforcement learning framework for training precise and high-performance jumping policies for the robot `Olympus'. Separate policies are developed for vertical and horizontal jumps, leveraging a…
Robotic arms built from stiffness-adjustable, continuously bending segments serially connected with revolute joints have the ability to change their mechanical architecture and workspace, thus allowing high flexibility and adaptation to…
Traditional one-step preview planning algorithms for bipedal locomotion struggle to generate viable gaits when walking across terrains with restricted footholds, such as stepping stones. To overcome such limitations, this paper introduces a…