Balance is an essential capability to ensure upright standing and locomotion. Various
external perturbations challenge our balance in daily life and increase the risk for falling and …

In order to approach the performance of biological locomotion in legged robots, better
integration between body design and control is required. In that respect, understanding the …

This paper addresses the control of steady state and transition behaviors for the bipedal
spring-loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP) model. We present an event-driven control …

It has been shown that human-like hopping can be achieved by muscle reflex control in
neuromechanical simulations. However, it is unclear if this concept is applicable and …

In getting from here to there, we continuously negotiate complex environments and
unpredictable terrain. Our ability to stay upright in the face of obstacles, such as holes in the …

Muscle models and animal observations suggest that physical damping is beneficial for
stabilization. Still, only a few implementations of physical damping exist in compliant robotic …

It is often assumed that the spinal control of human locomotion combines feed-forward
central pattern generation with sensory feedback via muscle reflexes. However, the actual …

The highly dynamic hybrid nature of legged locomotion makes it a very challenging task to
control. A proper control strategy, besides the ability to generate stable motions, should also …

Achieving efficient and human-like hopping motions with consistent consecutive patterns
requires proper mechanical design and control. In this regard, we introduce a new …

This chapter provides an overview of simple conceptual models of locomotion at the scale of
whole body movements. First, conceptual models of locomotion are introduced along with a …