Legged Robots
Legged Robots
Legged robotics is a new area of research that we have been building up within our group since 2012. The aim of our research is to develop the modelling, control, sensing and navigation capabilities for autonomous systems capable of traversing extreme environments (uneven, unstructured, unstable and otherwise difficult terrain, multi-type terrain) and complex confined spaces (industrial structures, underground structures) with the goal of providing remote in-situ sensing, mapping, sample acquisition and actuation.
Our research focuses on small to medium scale legged robots that are designed for outdoor and/or confined space environments, large scale ultra-light robots and evolutionary computing applied to legged locomotion. What makes Data61’s legged robots are unique:
- We have designed and developed the world’s first large scale ultra-light hexapod MAX (Multilegged Autonomous eXplorer) standing at 2.2m height weighing less than 60kg.
- Our 30 DoF hexapod robot is a first of its kind in the world with the capability to traverse uneven terrain and inclines up to 30 degrees (static stability up to 50 degrees) in any body orientation without any exteroceptive sensing.
- Legged robot with electromagnetic feet (Magnapods) is unique in its ability to climb steep gradients and maintain traction on vertical, fully inverted ferromagnetic surfaces and complex structures like trusses.
- The first research group in the world to use proprioceptive joint error measurements to do highly accurate ground cover classification using an articulated legged robot.
- Developed a 18 DoF robot with the compact series elastic actuators which surpasses the state of the art in angular deflection range and linearity in response.
Data61 have also designed and implemented the world’s first test-bed for evolving legged robot controllers in hardware, capable of perpetual operation with inbuilt error reporting, data logging, experiment scheduling and behaviour monitoring.
Please contact Navinda Kottege for more information.
Related posts
Media coverage
| ABC – Stargazing Live with Prof. Brian Cox (April 2017) | BBC Click – Robots explore site of ex-leprosy colony (March 2017) | Channel 10 Scope episode 144, season 3 (February 2017) |
| ABC NEWS – Spark Festival 2016 (October 2016) | Channel 9 News – CONNECT Expo in Melbourne (April 2015) | Channel 10 Scope episode on biomimicry (September 2013) |
Related papers
- Benjamin Tam, Fletcher Talbot, Ryan Steindl, Alberto Elfes, and Navinda Kottege, “OpenSHC: A Versatile Multilegged Robot Controller”, arXiv:2006.04424 [cs.RO], June 2020
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Russell Buchanan, Lorenz Wellhausen, Bjelonic, Marko, Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay, Navinda Kottege, Marco Hutter (2020), Perceptive whole‐body planning for multilegged robots in confined spaces, Journal of Field Robotics, (In press), Wiley.
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Eranda Tennakoon, Thierry Peynot, Jonathan Roberts, Navinda Kottege (2020), Probe-before-step walking strategy for multi-legged robots on terrain with risk of collapse, In proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Paris, France, June 2020.
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Russell Buchanan, Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay, Marko Bjelonic, Lorenz Wellhausen, Marco Hutter, Navinda Kottege, (2019), Walking Posture Adaptation for Legged Robot Navigation in Confined Spaces, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 4(2), pp. 2148 – 2155
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Eranda Tennakoon, Navinda Kottege, Thierry Peynot, Jonathan Roberts, (2018), Safe terrain probing method for multi-legged robots operating on brittle surfaces, In proceedings of the International Symposium on Experimental Robotics (ISER), Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 2018.
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay, Ryan Steindl, Fletcher Talbot, Navinda Kottege, Ross Dungavell, Brett Wood, James Barker, Karsten Hoehn, Alberto Elfes (2018), Magneto: A Versatile Multi-Limbed Inspection Robot, In proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Madrid, Spain, October, 2018.
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Marko Bjelonic, Navinda Kottege, Timon Homberger, Paulo Borges, Philipp Beckerle, Margarita Chli (2018), Weaver: Hexapod Robot for Autonomous Navigation on Unstructured Terrain, Journal of Field Robotics, 35(7), pp. 1063-1079, Wiley
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Benjamin Tam, Navinda Kottege, Branislav Kusy (2017), Augmented Telepresence for Remote Inspection with Legged Robots, In proceedings of the Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation (ACRA), Sydney, NSW, Australia, December 2017.
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Thomas Molnar, Ryan Steindl, Navinda Kottege, Fletcher Talbot, Alberto Elfes (2017), Steep Terrain Ascension Controller for Hexapod Robots, In proceedings of the Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation (ACRA), Sydney, NSW, Australia, December 2017. [Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex]
- Andrew Short, Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay (2017), Legged Motion Planning in Complex 3D Environments, In IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol.PP, no.99, pp.1-1
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Alberto Elfes, Ryan James Steindl, Fletcher Talbot, Farid Kendoul, Pavan Sikka, Tom Lowe, Navinda Kottege, Marko Bjelonic, Ross Dungavell, Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay, Marcus Hoerger, Benjamin Tam, David Rytz (2017),The Multilegged Autonomous eXplorer (MAX), In proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robots and Automation (ICRA 2017), Singapore, May 2017.
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Marko Bjelonic, Timon Homberger, Navinda Kottege, Paulo Borges, Margarita Chli, Philipp Beckerle, (2017), Autonomous Navigation of Hexapod Robots With Vision-based Controller Adaptation, In proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robots and Automation (ICRA 2017), Singapore, May 2017.
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Huub Heijnen, David Howard, Navinda Kottege, (2017), A Testbed that Evolves Hexapod Controllers in Hardware, In proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robots and Automation (ICRA 2017), Singapore, May 2017.
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Dylan Williamson, Navinda Kottege, & Peyman Moghadam, (2016), Terrain Characterisation and Gait Adaptation by a Hexa-pod Robot. In proceedings of the Australasian Conference on Robotics & Automation (ACRA 2016), Brisbane, QLD.
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Benjamin Tam & Navinda Kottege, (2016), Fall Avoidance and Recovery for Bipedal Robots using Walking Sticks. In proceedings of the Australasian Conference on Robotics & Automation (ACRA 2016), Brisbane, QLD.
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Marko Bjelonic, Navinda Kottege, & Philipp Beckerle, (2016), Proprioceptive Control of an Over-Actuated Hexapod Robot in Unstructured Terrain, In proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2016), Daejeon, Korea, October, 2016.
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Timon Homberger, Marko Bjelonic, Navinda Kottege, & Paulo Borges, (2016), Terrain-dependant Control of Hexapod Robots using Vision, In proceedings of the International Symposium on Experimental Robotics (ISER 2016), Tokyo, Japan, October 2016.
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Joshua Christie and Navinda Kottege, (2016), Acoustics based Terrain Classification for Legged Robots. In proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2016), Stockholm, Sweden, May, 2016
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Navinda Kottege, Callum Parkinson, Peyman Moghadam, Alberto Elfes & Surya P. N. Singh (2015), Energetics-Informed Hexapod Gait Transitions. In proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2015), Seattle, WA, USA, May 26-30, 2015
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Marcus Hoerger, Navinda Kottege, Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay, Alberto Elfes & Peyman Moghadam (2014), Real-time Stabilisation for Hexapod Robots. In proceedings of the International Symposium on Experimental Robotics (ISER 2014), Marrakech and Essaouira, Morocco, June 15-18, 2014
[Abstract][Paper] Download citation [BibTex] - Graeme Best, Peyman Moghadam, Navinda Kottege, & Lindsay Kleeman (2013), Terrain Classification Using a Hexapod Robot. In proceedings of the Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation 2013 (ACRA ’13), Sydney, Australia, December 2013. ISBN: 978-0-9807404-4-8
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