Rough Terrain Walking: Practice for the Wave Field

The wave field is an architectural feature near the Aerospace Building on the University of Michigan Campus. The set up in the lab is practice for that very challenging outdoor terrain.

The control design and implementation for MARLO are done in the Dynamic Legged Locomotion Laboratory at the University of Michigan led by Professor Jessy Grizzle. MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 bipedal robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University. Unlike most other 3D walking robots, MARLO is walking on very tiny passive feet (i.e., no ankle actuation) and she is not using a camera or anything else to sense the terrain. The self-balance is based on an advanced feedback control system, a dynamics model, and proprioception (joint encoders and an IMU). The navigation is directed by a joystick controller.