Robin Bendfeld and Prof. Dr. C. David Remy from the Institute of Nonlinear Mechanics (INM) have won the Outstanding Paper Award in the category "Mechanisms and Design" at the International Conference for Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in London for their paper "Contact Force Control with Continuously Compliant Robotic Legs". ICRA is the world's largest conference in the field of robotics with over 6000 participates. It celebrated its 40th anniversary this year.
Robin Bendfeld's project focuses on the integration of elasticity into robotic legs. In a novel approach, this is accomplished by transforming the lower leg into a spring, akin to a running prosthesis. The publication introduces a concept for accurately controlling the contact forces between such a robotic leg and the environment. In this context, the leg is seen as an extension of the well-known concept of serial elastic actuators and the desired force was achieved via active control of the deformation of the lower leg. This work is supported through the Vector Foundation.