Dynamic Walking and Running with Robots

Hosted by ETH Zurich
11 – 15 July, 2011

40 years after the first autonomous walking robot and 20 years after Mark Raibert's seminal work on robotic running, research on legged locomotion is renewing itself vibrantly and innovative as never before. With the problem of statically stable locomotion nearly solved, the commercialization of ZMP-controlled bipeds at hand, and the ongoing large-scale application of Raibert's principles, the robotics community now strives to close the performance gap that still separates robotic devices from their counterparts in nature. Energy efficiency, higher locomotion speeds, versatility, and robustness, are the key ingredients that will allow a wide-spread application of legged locomotion in autonomous systems. In this school, we want to prepare a new generation of engineers for these challenges, expose them to the current state of the art, and highlight fascinating areas of future research.

To this end, the school will give a compact introduction into the engineering fundamentals of legged locomotion. It will provide the participants with the necessary concepts, tools, and methods that allow them to extend their knowledge of design, simulation, and control to the thrilling field of legged robotics. Read More>>