Publications related to Dynamic Obstacle Clearing for Real-time Character Animation

From finger animation to full-body embodiment of avatars with different morphologies and proportions

VR (Virtual Reality) is a real-time simulation that creates the subjective illusion of being in a virtual world. This thesis explores how integrating the user's body and fingers can be achieved and beneficial for the user to experience VR. At the advent of ...

EPFL2023

The neuromechanics of animal locomotion: From biology to robotics and back

Auke Ijspeert, Pavan P Ramdya

Robotics and neuroscience are sister disciplines that both aim to understand how agile, efficient, and robust locomotion can be achieved in autonomous agents. Robotics has already benefitted from neuromechanical principles discovered by investigating anima ...

AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE2023

Investigating the neuromechanical control of healthy gait modulation and pathological gaits observed in cerebral palsy using neuromuscular simulations

Andrea Di Russo

Locomotion is based on a sophisticated interaction among the environment, the musculoskeletal system, the spinal cord, and the brain locomotor areas. Quality of life is strongly related to the proper capability of this movement. However, many pathologies, ...

EPFL2023

Beyond undulation! Body morphology and sensing components of elongated animals and robots reveal skills to maintain competent locomotion

Laura Isabel Paez Coy

Locomotion is an essential evolutive innovation of living beings that allows them to colonize and dominate the planet. As diverse as animal morphologies are (living) and were (extinct), their locomotion modalities are also diverse. In particular, animal mo ...

EPFL2023

Integration of feedforward and feedback control in the neuromechanics of vertebrate locomotion: a review of experimental, simulation and robotic studies

Auke Ijspeert

Animal locomotion is the result of complex and multi-layered interactions between the nervous system, the musculo-skeletal system and the environment. Decoding the underlying mechanisms requires an integrative approach. Comparative experimental biology has ...

Company Biologists Ltd2023

Investigating the roles of reflexes and central pattern generators in the control and modulation of human locomotion using a physiologically plausible neuromechanical model

Auke Ijspeert, Andrea Di Russo, Stéphane Armand, Dimitar Yuriev Stanev, Anushree Bapusaheb Sabnis

Objective. Studying the neural components regulating movement in human locomotion is obstructed by the inability to perform invasive experimental recording in the human neural circuits. Neuromechanical simulations can provide insights by modeling the locom ...

Iop Publishing Ltd2023

Neuromechanical Simulations of Animats with Decentralised Control

Jonathan Patrick Arreguit O'Neill

The transition from aquatic to terrestrial environments represents a significant event in the history of evolution. For this transition to occur, animals had to adapt their morphology, physiology and locomotory skills to handle the challenges and interacti ...

EPFL2023

Real-time Self-contact Retargeting of Avatars down to Finger Level

Ronan Boulic, Bruno Herbelin, Mathias Guy Delahaye

We interact with the world through a body that includes hands and fingers. Likewise, providing an avatar allowing the control of a virtual body with fingers is an important step to improve the user experience in VR. When the user and their avatar skeleton ...

The Eurographics Association2023

Combining accelerometry with allometry for estimating daily energy expenditure in joules when in-lab calibration is unavailable

Kamiar Aminian, Pritish Chakravarty

Background All behaviour requires energy, and measuring energy expenditure in standard units (joules) is key to linking behaviour to ecological processes. Animal-borne accelerometers are commonly used to infer proxies of energy expenditure, termed 'dynamic ...

BMC2023

Puppeteer and Marionette: Learning Anticipatory Quadrupedal Locomotion Based on Interactions of a Central Pattern Generator and Supraspinal Drive

Auke Ijspeert, Milad Shafiee Ashtiani, Guillaume Denis Antoine Bellegarda

Quadruped animal locomotion emerges from the interactions between the spinal central pattern generator (CPG), sensory feedback, and supraspinal drive signals from the brain. Computational models of CPGs have been widely used for investigating the spinal co ...

IEEE2023

Seeing Photons in Color

Claudio Bruschini, Edoardo Charbon, Paul Mos, Mohit Gupta

Megapixel single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) arrays have been developed recently, opening up the possibility of deploying SPADs as general-purpose passive cameras for photography and computer vision. However, most previous work on SPADs has been limited ...

ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY2023

A computational modeling approach to study the neuromechanics of terrestrial locomotion

Shravan Tata Ramalingasetty

The main theme of my thesis will be to use neuro-muscular modeling techniques to study locomotion of terrestrial mammals. Locomotion is the ability of animals to interact with the environment to propel themselves in space. It involves co-ordination and pre ...

EPFL2022

Online Bipedal Locomotion Adaptation for Stepping on Obstacles Using a Novel Foot Sensor

Milad Shafiee Ashtiani

In this paper, we present a novel control architecture for the online adaptation of bipedal locomotion on inclined obstacles. In particular, we introduce a novel, cost-effective, and versatile foot sensor to detect the proximity of the robot's feet to the ...

IEEE2022

High light quantity suppresses locomotion in symbiotic Aiptasia

Anders Meibom, Nils Rädecker, Claudia Isabella Pogoreutz

Many cnidarians engage in endosymbioses with microalgae of the family Symbiodiniaceae. In this association, the fitness of the cnidarian host is closely linked to the photosynthetic performance of its microalgal symbionts. Phototaxis may enable semi-sessil ...

2022

Flexural-tensegrity snapping tails for bio-inspired propulsion in fluids

Pedro Miguel Nunes Pereira de Almeida Reis, Claudio Boni

Many aquatic animals propel themselves by flapping their tails. Leveraging a recently proposed snapping cantilever beam based on the concept of flexural tensegrity, we propose a bio-inspired propulsion device. The design comprises a segmental beam with hol ...

ELSEVIER2022

Gait-dependent Traversability Estimation on the k-rock2 Robot

Auke Ijspeert, Matthew Alfonso Estrada, Mohammadreza Ebrahimi

Assessing the traversability of rugged terrain is a difficult challenge for legged robots, especially when they implement multiple, distinct gaits. We tackle this problem on the k-rock2 amphibious, sprawling gait robot by training a gait-dependent traversa ...

IEEE2022

Sensory modulation of gait characteristics in human locomotion: A neuromusculoskeletal modeling study

Auke Ijspeert, Andrea Di Russo, Stéphane Armand, Dimitar Yuriev Stanev

The central nervous system of humans and other animals modulates spinal cord activity to achieve several locomotion behaviors. Previous neuromechanical models investigated the modulation of human gait changing selected parameters belonging to CPGs (Central ...

2021

Emergence of robust self-organized undulatory swimming based on local hydrodynamic force sensing

Auke Ijspeert, Robin Thandiackal, Laura Isabel Paez Coy, Kamilo Andres Melo Becerra, Kyoichi Akiyama

Undulatory swimming represents an ideal behavior to investigate locomotion control and the role of the underlying central and peripheral components in the spinal cord. Many vertebrate swimmers have central pattern generators and local pressure-sensitive re ...

AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE2021

Robotic Elytra: Insect-Inspired Protective Wings for Resilient and Multi-Modal Drones

Dario Floreano, Charalampos Vourtsis, William John Stewart

Winged drones that fly in close proximity to obstacles or that are capable of aerial and terrestrial locomotion can benefit from protective systems that prevent damage to delicate aerial structures. Existing protective solutions focus on multi-copter drone ...

2021

Development of soft microscopic implants and acoustically-powered machines for biomedical applications

Murat Kaynak

The development of miniaturized machines that can actively cross barriers, navigate through heterogeneous materials and access remote sites can revolutionize environmental inspection and targeted therapy. Seminal work demonstrated the feasibility of follow ...

EPFL2021