Patrick Wensing - "From Controlled Tests to Open Worlds"

Описание: Speaker Biography
Patrick Wensing is the Wanzek Family Foundation Professor of Engineering and an Associate Professor in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, where he directs the Robotics, Optimization, and Assistive Mobility (ROAM) Lab. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The Ohio State University in 2014 and completed postdoctoral training at MIT in 2017, where he worked on control system design for the MIT Cheetah robots. His research focuses on dynamics, optimization, and control to advance the mobility of legged robots and assistive devices. Dr. Wensing is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award (2020) and the IROS 2023 Toshio Fukuda Young Professional Award, and his work has been recognized with multiple best paper awards. He currently serves as an Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Robotics, a member of the IEEE RAS Executive Committee, and Co-Chair of the IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Model-Based Optimization for Robotics.

Abstract
"Recent years have seen remarkable progress in legged robotics, with quadrupeds and humanoids now demonstrating athletic behaviors that were out of reach only five years ago. In parallel, actively powered lower-limb prostheses have advanced rapidly, with open-source platforms such as the Open-Source Leg broadening access and accelerating innovation. Yet controlled tests in the lab only go so far. The variability of real-world environments and human users presents challenges that cannot be fully anticipated during development. To confront this gap, the first part of the talk will highlight recent work on controlling the MIT Mini Cheetah, focusing on computational methods that enable the robot to reason about its actions on the fly in novel environments. The second part will present ongoing research on improving user interfaces for lower-limb prostheses, aiming to make human–robot interaction more seamless and intuitive. Together, this work lays a foundation to expand the versatility of robotic systems in open worlds, paving the way for broader adoption in the "wild".