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Auke Ijspeert

EPFL STI IBI-STI BIOROB
MED 1 1226 (Bâtiment MED)
Station 9
1015 Lausanne

EPFL STI IGM-GE
MED 1 1226 (Bâtiment MED)
Station 9
1015 Lausanne

Expertise

Locomotion, Robotics, Computational neuroscience, Machine learning, Nonlinear dynamical systems

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Auke Ijspeert is a full professor at the EPFL, and head of the Biorobotics Laboratory (BioRob). He has a B.Sc./M.Sc. in physics from the EPFL (1995), and a PhD in artificial intelligence from the University of Edinburgh (1999). He carried out postdocs at IDSIA and EPFL, and at the University of Southern California (USC). He then became a research assistant professor at USC, and an external collaborator at ATR (Advanced Telecommunications Research institute) in Japan. In 2002, he came back to the EPFL as an SNF assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in October 2009 and to full professor in April 2016. His primary affiliation is with the Institute of Bioengineering, and secondary affiliation with the Institute of Mechanical Engineering.

His research interests are at the intersection between robotics, computational neuroscience, nonlinear dynamical systems, and machine learning. He is interested in using numerical simulations and robots to get a better understanding of sensorimotor coordination in animals, and in using inspiration from biology to design novel types of robots and adaptive controllers (see for instance Ijspeert et al Science 2007, Ijspeert Science 2014, and Nyakatura et al Nature 2019). He is also investigating how to assist people with limited mobility using exoskeletons and assistive furniture.  He is regularly invited to give talks on these topics (e.g. TED talk given at TED Global Geneva, Dec 8 2015). With his colleagues, he has received paper awards at ICRA2002, CLAWAR2005, IEEE Humanoids 2007, IEEE ROMAN 2014, CLAWAR 2015, SAB2018, CLAWAR 2019, and ICRA 2024.
 
He is an IEEE Fellow, member of the Board of Reviewing Editors of Science magazine, and associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics. He has acted as an associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Robotics (2009-2013), Soft Robotics (2018-2021), and the International Journal of Humanoids Robotics (2017-2022). He was a guest editor for the Proceedings of IEEE, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, Autonomous Robots, IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, and Biological Cybernetics. He has been the organizer of 7 international conferences (BioADIT2004, SAB2004, AMAM2005, BioADIT2006, LATSIS2006, SSRR2016, AMAM2019), and a program committee member of over 50 conferences.

Main Publications

Reverse-engineering the locomotion of a stem amniote

J. A. NyakaturaK. MeloT. HorvatK. KarakasiliotisV. R. Allen  et al.

Nature. 2019-01-16. DOI : 10.1038/s41586-018-0851-2.

Oncilla Robot: A Versatile Open-Source Quadruped Research Robot With Compliant Pantograph Legs

A. SprowitzA. TuleuM. AjallooeianM. VespignaniR. Mockel  et al.

Frontiers in Robotics and AI. 2018. DOI : 10.3389/frobt.2018.00067.

From cineradiography to biorobots: an approach for designing robots to emulate and study animal locomotion

K. KarakasiliotisR. ThandiackalK. MeloT. HorvatN. K. Mahabadi  et al.

Journal of The Royal Society Interface. 2016. DOI : 10.1098/rsif.2015.1089.

Biorobotics: Using robots to emulate and investigate agile animal locomotion

A. Ijspeert

Science magazine. 2014. DOI : 10.1126/science.1254486.

Roombots: A Hardware Perspective on 3D Self-Reconfiguration and Locomotion with a Homogeneous Modular Robot

A. SpröwitzR. MöckelM. VespignaniS. BonardiA. Ijspeert

Robotics and Autonomous Systems. 2014. DOI : 10.1016/j.robot.2013.08.011.

From lamprey to salamander: an exploratory modeling study on the architecture of the spinal locomotor networks in the salamander

A. BicanskiD. RyczkoJ.-M. CabelguenA. J. Ijspeert

Biological Cybernetics. 2013. DOI : 10.1007/s00422-012-0538-y.

Adaptive Frequency Oscillators and Applications

L. RighettiJ. BuchliA. J. Ijspeert

The Open Cybernetics and Systemics Journal. 2009. DOI : 10.2174/1874110X00903020064.

Central pattern generators for locomotion control in animals and robots: a review

A. J. Ijspeert

Neural Networks. 2008. DOI : 10.1016/j.neunet.2008.03.014.

From swimming to walking with a salamander robot driven by a spinal cord model

A. J. IjspeertA. CrespiD. RyczkoJ.-M. Cabelguen

Science. 2007. DOI : 10.1126/science.1138353.

Dynamical principles in neuronal systems and robotics

J. BuchliA. J. IjspeertM. RabinovichA. Selverston

Biological Cybernetics. 2006. DOI : 10.1007/s00422-006-0130-4.

Dynamic hebbian learning in adaptive frequency oscillators

L. RighettiJ. BuchliA. J. Ijspeert

Physica D. 2006. DOI : 10.1016/j.physd.2006.02.009.

A connectionist central pattern generator for the aquatic and terrestrial gaits of a simulated salamander

A. Ijspeert

Biological Cybernetics. 2001. DOI : 10.1007/s004220000211.

From swimming to walking with a salamander robot driven by a spinal cord model

A. J. IjspeertA. CrespiD. RyczkoJ.-M. Cabelguen

Science. 2007. DOI : 10.1126/science.1138353.

Dynamic hebbian learning in adaptive frequency oscillators

L. RighettiJ. BuchliA. J. Ijspeert

Physica D. 2006. DOI : 10.1016/j.physd.2006.02.009.

Learning Attractor Landscapes for Learning Motor Primitives

A. IjspeertJ. NakanishiS. Schaal

2002. p. 1547-1554.

A connectionist central pattern generator for the aquatic and terrestrial gaits of a simulated salamander

A. Ijspeert

Biological Cybernetics. 2001. DOI : 10.1007/s004220000211.

Courses

Topics in Autonomous Robotics

ENG-615

Students will be introduced to modern approaches in control and design of autonomous robots through lectures and exercises.

Legged robots

MICRO-507

The course presents the design, control, and applications of legged robots. It gives a review of different types of legged robots (including two-, four- and multi-legged robots), and analysis of different control methods for legged locomotion. It also trains students in making critical analysis of key articles in the field, and in designing their own models and locomotion controllers for legged

Computational motor control

CS-432

The course gives (1) a review of different types of numerical models of control of locomotion and movement in animals, (2) a presentation of different techniques for designing models, and (3) an analysis of the use and testing of those models in robotics and neuroprosthetics.