Legged robots and mobile manipulation

Abstract:
This talk provides an insight into our recent work on four-legged robots that can operate under harsh conditions. I will outline some design aspects and general concepts that were followed to create a platform for dynamic legged locomotion. This includes work on compact, precisely torque controllable and impact robust actuator modules as well as on an overall system architecture aiming at high mobility and versatility. I will present a number of control, environment perception, and motion planning tools for static and dynamic locomotion in non-flat terrain and discuss all results in the context of different experiments that were conducted under realistic conditions in the field. Moreover, I will show how these concepts can be transferred from locomotion to manipulation as well as to different scales and actuation types such as for autonomous hydraulic excavators.

Short Bio:
Marco Hutter is assistant professor for Robotic Systems at ETH Zurich and Branco Weiss Fellow. He is part of the national competence centers for robotics (NCCR robotics) and digital fabrication (NCCR dfab), and member of the Intel Network on Intelligent Systems. His group is participating in several research projects, industrial collaborations, and international competitions that target the application of high-mobile autonomous vehicles in challenging environments such as for search and rescue, industrial inspection, or construction operation. Marco’s research interests are in the development of novel machines and actuation concepts together with the underlying control, planning, and optimization algorithms for locomotion and manipulation.