Feedback Control of Bipedal Locomotion: Theory and Experiments

The fields of control and robotics are working hand-in-hand to development bipedal machines that can realize walking motions with the stability and agility of a human. Dynamic models for bipeds are hybrid nonlinear systems, meaning they contain both continuous and discrete elements, with switching events that are spatially driven by changes in ground contact. This talk will show how model-based feedback control and optimization methods are enhancing the ability to achieve highly dynamic locomotion in bipedal machines. The theory used in the talk will be amply illustrated with graphics and videos of our experiments to make the material accessible to a wide audience.
Jessy W. Grizzle received the Ph.D. in electrical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 1983 and in 1984 held an NSF-NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship in Science in Paris, France. Since September 1987, he has been with The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he is the Jerry and Carol Levin Professor of Engineering. He jointly holds sixteen patents dealing with emissions reduction in passenger vehicles through improved control system design. Professor Grizzle is a Fellow of the IEEE and of IFAC. He received the Paper of the Year Award from the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society in 1993, the George S. Axelby Award in 2002, the Control Systems Technology Award in 2003, and the Bode Lecture Prize in 2012. His work on bipedal locomotion has been the object of numerous plenary lectures and has been featured in The Economist, Wired Magazine, Discover Magazine, Scientific American, Popular Mechanics and several television programs.