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Explore insights at the intersection of robotics, optimal control, and mechanically adaptive design. Here, you will find deep dives into compliant actuators, human augmentation, and the challenges of sim-to-real transfer. Whether you are an engineer, researcher, or industry professional, these articles offer valuable insights and thought-provoking discussions to drive advancements in robotics.
Mechanically Adaptive Robotics: National Science Foundation CAREER Award
Pushing the Limits of Unpowered Systems Robotics is reaching new frontiers, with innovative designs reshaping how machines and humans interact. Mechanically adaptive robotics offers a path to enhancing mobility without…
Transferring Human Impedance Behavior to Heterogeneous Variable Impedance Actuators
M. Howard, D.J. Braun, and S. Vijayakumar, Transferring human impedance behavior to heterogeneous variable impedance actuators, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 847-862, 2013. This paper presents a…
Optimal Variable Stiffness Control: Formulation and Application to Explosive Movement Tasks
D. J. Braun, M. Howard and S. Vijayakumar, Optimal Variable Stiffness Control: Formulation and Application to Explosive Movement Tasks, Autonomous Robots, vol. 33, no.3, pp. 237-253, 2012. It is widely recognized that compliant…
Simulation of Constrained Mechanical Systems – Part I: An Equation of Motion
D.J. Braun and M. Goldfarb, Simulation of Constrained Mechanical Systems – Part I: An Equation of Motion, ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics, vol. 79, issue 4, 041017, 2012. This paper presents an…
Simulation of Constrained Mechanical Systems – Part II: Explicit Numerical Integration
D.J. Braun and M. Goldfarb, Simulation of Constrained Mechanical Systems – Part II: Explicit Numerical Integration, ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics, vol. 79, issue 4, 041018, 2012. This paper presents an explicit…
Actuated Dynamic Walking in a Seven-Link Biped Robot
D.J. Braun, Jason E. Mitchell and M. Goldfarb, Actuated Dynamic Walking in a Seven-Link Biped Robot, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, vol. 17, no.1, pp. 147-156, 2012. The authors have previously described a…
Optimal torque and stiffness control in compliantly actuated robots
D.J. Braun, F. Petit, F. Huber, S. Haddadin, P. Smagt, A. Albu-Schaffer, and S. Vijayakumar, Optimal torque and stiffness control in compliantly actuated robots, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and…
Exploiting variable physical damping in rapid movement tasks
A. Radulescu, M. Howard, D.J. Braun, and S. Vijayakumar, Exploiting variable physical damping in rapid movement tasks, IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, Kaohsiung, TWN, pp. 141–148, July 2012. Best…
Exploiting variable stiffness in explosive movement tasks
D.J. Braun, M. Howard, and S. Vijayakumar, Exploiting variable stiffness in explosive movement tasks, Robotics: Science and Systems, Los Angeles, USA, June/July 2011. It is widely recognised that compliant actuation is advantageous…
Constraint-based equilibrium and stiffness control of variable stiffness actuators
M. Howard, D.J. Braun, and S. Vijayakumar, Constraint-based equilibrium and stiffness control of variable stiffness actuators, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Shanghai, CN, pp. 5554–5560, May 2011. Considerable research effort…
A Control Approach for Actuated Dynamics Walking in Biped Robots
D.J. Braun, M. Goldfarb, A Control Approach for Actuated Dynamics Walking in Biped Robots, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 1292-1303, 2009. This paper presents an approach for the…
Elimination of Constrained Drift in the Numerical Simulation of Constrained Dynamical Systems
D.J. Braun, M. Goldfarb, Elimination of Constrained Drift in the Numerical Simulation of Constrained Dynamical Systems, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, vol. 198, no. 37-40, pp. 3151-3160, 2009. By means…
A Controller for Dynamic Walking in Bipedal Robots
D.J. Braun and M. Goldfarb, A controller for dynamic walking in bipedal robots, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, St. Louis, USA, pp. 2916–2921, October 2009. This paper presents an…
Actuated Dynamic Walking in Biped Robots: Control Approach, Robot Design and Experimental Validation
D. J. Braun, J. E. Mitchell, and M. Goldfarb, Actuated dynamic walking in biped robots: Control approach, robot design and experimental validation, IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Paris, FR, pp. 237–242,…
Adaptive steady-state stabilization for nonlinear dynamical systems
D.J. Braun, Adaptive steady-state stabilization for nonlinear dynamical systems, Physical Review E, vol. 78, no. 1, p. 016213, 2008. Reply to Comment on Adaptive steady-state stabilization for nonlinear dynamical systems, Physical Review E,…
On the Optimal Shape of a Compressed Rotating Rod with Shear and Extensibility
D.J. Braun, On the Optimal Shape of Compressed Rotating Rod with Shear and Extensibility, International Journal of Non-linear Mechanics, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 131–139, 2008. In this paper, the optimal shape…
The Strongest Rotating Rod
T. M. Atanackovic and D.J. Braun, The strongest rotating rod, International Journal of Non-linear Mechanics, vol. 40, pp. 747–754, 2005. By using the Rayleigh quotient, we present the variational formulation for the…
Optimal Control of Compliant Robots: IEEE Transactions on Robotics Best Paper Award
Optimal Control for Compliant Robots Compliant actuation, inspired by biological systems, offers robots mechanical adaptability and energy efficiency, making them suitable for tasks requiring both precision and power. However, controlling…
Real-time Optimal Control of Engineering Systems: National Science Foundation Grant
Enabling Robots to Learn Like Humans Robotic intelligence is evolving beyond pre-programmed control, shifting towards systems that learn through real-world experience. A key challenge in this transformation is enabling robots…
The Science Behind High-Tech Robot Boots
Uncovering Human Performance Limits Have you ever wondered how much faster humans could run with just a little help from physics? A new twist on the old idea of spring-driven…
Robo-boot Concept Promises 50% Faster Running
The Vision of Faster Running with Robo-Boots Can physics support running as fast as cycling? A recent news article explores spring-driven robotic exoskeletons, or Robo-boots, as a potential way to…