Education

Open semester and thesis projects

FS2012 Spring semester

Master level (and above)

151-2012-00L 2012 ETH Robotics Summer School on Soft Robotics

HS2011 Autumn semester

151-0653-00  Introduction to Bio-Inspired Motor Control (master level)

Course Information and Materials

FS2011 Spring semester

2011 ETH Robotics Summer School on Dynamic Walking and Running with Robots (master and above level)

Course Information and Materials

401-5860-00L Seminar in Robotics for CSE (master level)

HS2010 Autumn semester

151-0653-00  Introduction to Bio-Inspired Motor Control and Robot Locomotion (master level)

Course Information and Materials

If compared to biological systems, our robots are still energetically inefficient and suffering from adaptive behavior in uncertain environments. From this perspective, this course provides an overview of this interdisciplinary field of research, and explain what are the challenges and how to tackle with the problems. The main goal of this course is to provide students the fundamentals of biological and engineering tools to systematically explore the interdisciplinary field of bio-inspired motor control. Students will learn how to observe nature, how to abstract underlying principles, and how to develop artificial systems based on bio-inspirations. This course covers the following four topic areas: Modeling of dynamics in biological systems; Modeling of bio-inspired robots; Simulation and analytical tools; Motor control and learning of dynamic mechatronic systems.

151-0640-00 Studies on Mechatronics (bachelor level)

List of Topics

HS2009 Autumn semester

227-0231-00V  Introduction to dynamics and control of legged locomotion (master level)

"Introduction to Dynamics and Control of Legged Locomotion" provides an overview in this interdisciplinary field of research. The goal of this course is to convey to students the fundamentals of legged locomotion science, and to enable them to work on problems of legged dynamics and control in theory and practice. This lecture provides overview of theory of legged dynamics and control from the different perspectives of biomechanics, neuroscience and robotics. Enable students to work on related topics in these three fields. Content Working on the dynamics and control of legged locomotion has not only scientific merit, but the clear prospect of a growing demand in industry with humanoid and rehabilitation robotics as two prominent directions. The course provides an overview of the current state of knowledge in this interdisciplinary research field.
Divided in three parts, the course will cover the dynamics of legged locomotion first, with observations on animal locomotion, conceptual models of walking and running, and the dynamic properties of muscle motors in comparison to actuators used in legged robots. The second part will focus on the control of legged locomotion, including neuroscientific evidence for central and reflexive leg control, neuromuscular control models of animal and human locomotion, and contrasting strategies of control applied in legged robots. In the third part of the course, team projects will allow students to apply their knowledge and work on problems of legged systems in theory and computer simulations, and on robot legs.