Events Calendar

PhD Defense- Sean Mason

Title: Optimization Based Whole-Body Control and Reactive Planning for a Torque Controlled Humanoid Robot

PhD Candidate: Sean Mason

Date and Time: Wednesday May 9, 2018 at 10:00 AM in RTH 406

Committee: Stefan Schaal (Chair), Gaurav Sukatme, James Finley, Ludovic Righetti

Abstract:
Humanoid robots are expected to both locomote and interact with objects within unstructured environments. As robot hardware technologies have advanced, high-bandwidth, torque-controlled robots have become more widely-available as research platforms. In this work, I explore optimization-based methods for planning and control of a humanoid robot. I focus on the importance of controlling contact interactions with the environment for the tasks of balancing and walking of a bipedal system. This work is driven by and centered on the challenge of real robot implementations, and thus addresses the questions that come along with designing control algorithms for real systems. I will present lightweight control algorithms for whole-body balance, a model-predictive control approach to walking while using hands, and show extensive experiments on a humanoid robot.

Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 406

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Lizsl De Leon