BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Transferring the Principles of Human Impedance Control to Soft Rob
 otic Systems - Matthew J Howard\, King's College London
DTSTART:20151113T140000Z
DTEND:20151113T150000Z
UID:TALK61456@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Tim Hughes
DESCRIPTION:Inspired by the antagonistic human musculoskeletal system\, th
 e current trend in mechatronic design is to include physically compliant e
 lements into the\nembodiment of robotic devices. The promise of such 'soft
  robotic' systems\,\nincludes safety (e.g.\, giving way to external pertur
 bations without damage to\nthe mechanism) and agility (e.g.\, energy stora
 ge in elastic elements for highly\ndynamic behaviour). However\, these off
 erings are tempered by the increased\ncomplexity of the system dynamics le
 ading to difficulty in control. Learning (by\ndemonstration or reinforceme
 nt) is often advocated as a means of dealing with this complexity\, and ca
 n allow us to exploit the principles of human\nsensorimotor control to imp
 rove our robotic systems. In this talk\, I will\npresent work in programmi
 ng soft robots through imitation of humans\, both\nthrough forward and inv
 erse optimal control\, in order to exploit their dynamic\ncharacteristics\
 , and talk about my view of up-and-coming topics in compliant\nrobotics.
LOCATION:Cambridge University Engineering Department\, LR5
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR