HRL Looks to Nature to Advance the State of the Art in Legged Robotic Locomotion

MALIBU, Calif., January 27, 2011—HRL Laboratories, LLC, has received an award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to advance the science of mobility for legged robotic systems in the Maximum Mobility and Motions Program, or M3.

While legged robots have greater mobility than robots with wheels and tracks, most legged robotic systems are restricted to simpler terrain or are specialized to climb specific surfaces. Current systems are not robust enough to overcome disturbances and uncertainties in the environments in which they operate.

HRL will lead a team of university experts in the science of legged locomotion, leveraging the state of the art in biological movement, enhancing scientific understanding of biological locomotion and applying this knowledge to robotic control. The team will design novel learning methods and experiments as well as novel legged robotic systems with the aim of setting new speed and agility records for robotic legged locomotion.

“Based on the biological model and further experiments in biology, we will engineer control modules that are capable of generating legged robotic behavior that is robust to a variety of operating scenarios and environments,” said Dr. Heiko Hoffmann, HRL senior scientist and program lead on M3. “The technology will have a variety of defense and commercial applications.”

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HRL Laboratories, LLC, Malibu, California (www.hrl.com) is a corporate research-and-development laboratory owned by The Boeing Company and General Motors specializing in research into sensors and materials, information and systems sciences, applied electromagnetics, and microelectronics. HRL provides custom research and development and performs additional R&D contract services for its LLC member companies, the U.S. government, and other commercial companies.

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