Main.HomePage

Kod*lab

a subsidiary of the Penn Engineering GRASP Lab

We are interested in the application of dynamical systems theory to the invention and construction of intelligent machines and systems, with a particular focus on biologically inspired robotics. Many of us have worked in robotics with emphasis on dynamical dexterity and the management of kinetic energy in designing machines capable of performing useful work on their bodies and environments. Others of us have worked on more abstract problems of control and coordination with the object of developing new methods of design and analysis toward the construction of such machines.

News

Summer Research Assistants
October 1, 2009
Kod*lab was very active this summer, with a total of 7 undergraduates contributing to our research on a variety of topics. Each has written up an end of summer report, and you can read them here: Ani, Ben, Derek, Matt, Phillip, Ryan, Sarah. Congratulations everyone on a productive summer!

IROS 2009
September 16, 2009
We will be presenting our paper, A Self-Exciting Controller for High-Speed Vertical Running, at IROS 2009. The conference runs from October 11–15, 2009, in St. Louis, MO.

ISRR 2009
July 28, 2009
We will be presenting new work on the topology and control of legged gaits in our paper, Gait Transitions for Quasi-Static Hexapedal Locomotion on Level Ground, at ISRR 2009 in Lucerne, Switzerland, on August 31, 2009.

Past News

Projects

Robotic prototypes pursued in our lab have focused on both level ground and vertical locomotion in complex outdoor terrain.

RHex Project: A biologically inspired running robot designed for robust operation in complex, natural, outdoor terrain. Subprojects include EduBot, SandBot, and X-RHex.

RiSE Project: A biologically inspired robot designed for vertical climbing in addition to horizontal locomotion. Subprojects include RiSE V2, RiSE V3 and DynoClimber.