MARLO, bipedal robot, Control Systems Laboratory, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

[Airicist]

EECS Department, University of Michigan

Developer - Control Systems Laboratory (https://pr.ai/showthread.php?11704)

Michigan Robotics: Dynamic Legged Locomotion Lab - biped.solutions (https://www.biped.solutions)

youtube.com/DynamicLegLocomotion (https://www.youtube.com/DynamicLegLocomotion)

Creators:

J.W. Grizzle (https://pr.ai/showthread.php?11703)

Jonathan Hurst (https://pr.ai/showthread.php?10326)

MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 (https://pr.ai/showthread.php?10327) robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/njNmcHej4mE

Bipedal Robot MARLO Walks in Planar Mode with xPCTarget and EtherCAT

Published on Nov 11, 2013


MARLO is a 3D ATRIAS-series robot; its hips can move laterally as well as forward and backward. During this test in October 2012, the robot is on a boom while we check out the ethercat network and basic real-time control software in xPC Target. The robot was designed at Oregon State University. Control algorithms were designed at the University of Michigan.

Two other copies of the ATRIAS robots exist and are located at Oregon State University (J. Hurst) and Carnegie Mellon (H. Geyer).

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/t6ES_4y1Auc

MARLO: One Tough Bipedal Robot

Published on Nov 11, 2013


MARLO is an underactuated 3D bipedal robot with passive prosthetic feet. Its feedback control is designed using virtual constraints. In this experiment, MARLO is attached to a boom, making it a planar robot. A feedback controller is designed to make MARLO highly resistant to large shoves.

Video concludes with a preview of MARLO walking in 3D, that is, without the boom.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/c6J7kfG9JrY

Preliminary Outdoor Walking with Underactuated Bipedal Robot MARLO

Published on Nov 26, 2013


Testing done on Saturday November 23, 2013 at 8 AM in front of the EECS Building on the University of Michigan North Campus. The temperature was -2 C (about 29 F). MARLO is an underactuated 3D bipedal robot with passive prosthetic feet. Its feedback control is designed using virtual constraints. In previous experiments, MARLO was attached to a boom. but with improved control, the robot can now walk without any external support. A mobile gantry supports a safety cable to catch the robot when it falls, avoiding expensive and time-consuming repairs. The robot is one of 3 ATRIAS-series robots designed and built by Jonathan Hurst at Oregon State University. The other two copies are at CMU [with H. Geyer] and Oregon State.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/soVlAyMRCfM

Preliminary Indoor Walking Gaits for Underactuated Bipedal Robot MARLO

Published on Nov 27, 2013


[As far as we know, MARLO is the first two-legged robot with passive feet to stand motionless and then walk on flat ground or up very mild slopes without external support. If you know of others, email our channel]. Going in reverse chronological order, the process of getting the robot to stand quietly and then walk without external support is presented for MARLO, an underactuated 3D bipedal robot with passive prosthetic feet. The robot's feedback control is designed using virtual constraints. In early experiments, MARLO was attached to a boom. but with improved control, the robot can now walk without any external support. A safety cable attached to a winch on the ceiling is used to catch the robot when it falls, avoiding expensive and time-consuming repairs. MARLO at Michigan is one of 3 ATRIAS-series robots designed and built by Jonathan Hurst at Oregon State University. The other two copies are at CMU [with H. Geyer] and Oregon State.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/-yJ_4rMWCK8

MARLO: 3D bipedal robot walking on stilt-like feet

Published on Feb 13, 2015


MARLO is a 3D robot designed to study principles of dynamic walking. Unlike most other 3D walking robots, MARLO does not have large feet with powered ankles. This forces the robot to balance dynamically, but may lead to more natural and more energetically efficient walking.

MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/5ms5DtPNwHo

MARLO: Dynamic 3D walking based on HZD gait design and BMI constraint selection

Published on Mar 21, 2015


BTN LiveB1G was filming MARLO the day we began testing a new method for controller design.

The controller is based on virtual constraints and hybrid zero dynamics (HZD). Here we are testing a new method for designing virtual constraints based on bilinear matrix inequality (BMI) optimization.

MARLO is a 3D robot designed to study principles of dynamic walking. Unlike most other 3D walking robots, MARLO does not have large feet with powered ankles. This forces the robot to balance dynamically, but may lead to more natural and more energetically efficient walking.

MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/HvT1oeyl8vg

Happy Holidays from MARLO and the Bipedal Robot Lab!

Published on Dec 23, 2015


Happy Holidays from MARLO and the University of Michigan Bipedal Robot Lab! These are some initial results using gait transitions and nonholonomic virtual constraints. More to come soon.

MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/P3YzyoVpHjA

MARLO: Dynamic 3D Walking using Nonholonomic Virtual Constraints

Published on Mar 10, 2016


MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University. Unlike most other 3D walking robots, MARLO does not have large feet with powered ankles. This forces the robot to balance dynamically, but may lead to more natural and efficient walking. The walking controller is designed using nonholonomic virtual constraints. For more details, see
"Nonholonomic Virtual Constraints for Dynamic Walking (http://web.eecs.umich.edu/~grizzle/papers/NHVCCDC20150324InitialSubmission.pdf)"

by Brent Griffin and Jessy Grizzle

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/J2Tkhx6kTtQ

MARLO: walking over unknown terrain using nonholonomic virtual constraints

Published on Apr 3, 2016


MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University. Unlike most other 3D walking robots, MARLO does not have large feet with powered ankles. This forces the robot to balance dynamically, but may lead to more natural and efficient walking.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/iOltRR0RqiM

MARLO walking in Michigan Robotics Day

Published on Apr 9, 2016


MARLO walked around the visitor center at Michigan Robotics Day on April 5, 2016. She demonstrated stepping, walking, turning and responding to perturbations: humans playing "robot ping-pong" with her!

The control design and implementation are done in the Dynamic Leg Laboratory at the University of Michigan led by Professor Jessy Grizzle. MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 bipedal robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University. Unlike most other 3D walking robots, MARLO is walking on very tiny passive feet (i.e., no ankle actuation) and she is not using a camera or anything else to sense the terrain. The self-balance is based on an advanced feedback control system, a dynamics model, and proprioception (joint encoders and an IMU). The navigation is directed by a joystick controller.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/PQ1s7eInJKU

MARLO walking in the snow

Published on Apr 9, 2016


The control design and implementation are done in the Dynamic Leg Laboratory at the University of Michigan led by Professor Jessy Grizzle. MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 bipedal robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University. Unlike most other 3D walking robots, MARLO is walking on very tiny passive feet (i.e., no ankle actuation) and she is not using a camera or anything else to sense the terrain. The self-balance is based on an advanced feedback control system, a dynamics model, and proprioception (joint encoders and an IMU). The navigation is directed by a joystick controller.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/eSllkIptlK0

Outdoor long walk

Published on Apr 18, 2016


MARLO had a 260 meters walk in the campus, the maximum slope change is 7 degree. It finally got foot slip on the slope

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/vn_BvNgNP7Y

Walking and u turn near EECS building

Published on Apr 18, 2016

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/gHpXTmyG4mE

MARLO walking 22 degree down hill

Published on Apr 28, 2016


Control Method: Two 2D-Decoupled Controllers and Gait Library; paper to be submitted soon.

Is this the steepest slope a bipedal robot has walked down? We're not sure, but it does take a pretty good control algorithm to handle it and we have installed some nice ones on MARLO.

To answer a recent question, MARLO is a she; her name is from Marlo Thomas, a famous actress from an age before YouTube, born in Detroit, Michigan in 1937. This is a little far back for some of you; we get that. If you want the full acronym, it kind of stands for Michigan Anthropomorphic Robot for Locomotion Outdoors. The robot is not so anthropomorphic, we get that too, but we did our best in making a plausible acronym to go along with MARLO. In the beginning, that Locomotion Outdoors part was kind of a pipe dream because she [MARLO] was stumbling a lot. We're getting better!

The control design and implementation are done in the Dynamic Legged Locomotion Laboratory at the University of Michigan led by Professor Jessy Grizzle. MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 bipedal robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University. Unlike most other 3D walking robots, MARLO is walking on very tiny passive feet (i.e., no ankle actuation) and she is not using a camera or anything else to sense the terrain. The self-balance is based on an advanced feedback control system, a dynamics model, and proprioception (joint encoders and an IMU). The navigation is directed by a joystick controller.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/fwgrqbTRRTc

Walking along the edge of the woods

Published on May 27, 2016


The gantry is the limiting factor in this video. We use it because if the robot falls and breaks, we have to repair it, replace parts, and such, but mostly because we only have one robot, so we try to take care of it!

The control design and implementation for MARLO are done in the Dynamic Legged Locomotion Laboratory at the University of Michigan led by Professor Jessy Grizzle. MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 bipedal robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University. Unlike most other 3D walking robots, MARLO is walking on very tiny passive feet (i.e., no ankle actuation) and she is not using a camera or anything else to sense the terrain. The self-balance is based on an advanced feedback control system, a dynamics model, and proprioception (joint encoders and an IMU). The navigation is directed by a joystick controller.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/Bb4p-ox0WnM

Inside MARLO's Lab | UMengineering Snapchat

Published on Jun 2, 2016


Michigan Engineering's bipedal robot, MARLO, is walking better than ever thanks to recent algorithmic balance breakthroughs.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/YXJQJtcXX4E

Kicking MARLO in the name of science

Published on Jun 21, 2016


The control design and implementation for MARLO are done in the Dynamic Legged Locomotion Laboratory at the University of Michigan led by Professor Jessy Grizzle. MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 bipedal robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University.

MARLO is walking on prosthetic feet with women's size 7 tennis shoes. There is no actuation at the ankle she is not using a camera or anything else to sense the terrain. The self-balance is based on an advanced feedback control system, a dynamic model, and proprioception (joint encoders and an IMU).

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/uYD99f01aek

Initial stroll in the forest

Published on Jun 21, 2016


This is our first use of a "human gantry" system! The idea is that we can safely slow the fall of the robot and minimize damage, and yet we can do places where our wheel-based gantry could not go. Because we only have one robot, we have to take care of it.

The control design and implementation for MARLO are done in the Dynamic Legged Locomotion Laboratory at the University of Michigan led by Professor Jessy Grizzle. MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 bipedal robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University.

MARLO is walking on prosthetic feet with women's size 7 SKIDS tennis shoes. There is no actuation at the ankle. She is not using a camera or anything else to sense the terrain. The self-balance is based on an advanced feedback control system, a dynamic model, and proprioception (joint encoders and an IMU). The navigation is directed by a joystick controller.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/YErF0cyPI-g

First attempt to the wave field

Published on Jul 4, 2016


The Wave Field is an earthen sculpture on the Southeast side of the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Building in University of Micigan. It was designed by and created by Maya Lin. It is truly an artistic treasure and a perfect play ground for bipedal robot. The various humps and valleys challenge robot on lateral and sagittal balance. MARLO will come back with better lateral controller.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/44L3OFx4VU8

MARLO enjoys the Michigan Fall colors

Published on Oct 31, 2016


The outdoor trip is run on Sunday, 23 October 2016. MARLO walked around Michigan campus to enjoy the best season. The gantry followed it is for safety and initialization reason.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/N6gxFj05N4g

MARLO vs. Wavefield

Published on Oct 31, 2016


MARLO is the first robot in the lab of Jessy Grizzle, the Elmer G. Gilbert Distinguished University Professor and the Jerry W. and Carol L. Levin Professor of Engineering, that can walk (and fall) in any direction. MARLO steps blindly without supports, sensing the changes in ground height and adjusting its gait according to terrain and speed. It draws on a library of gaits developed by PhD student Xingye Da.
In early attempts on the Wave Field in June, MARLO broke its legs trying and briefly burst into flames when an electrical connector blew.
By the end of July, Da and his fellow students updated the gaits and algorithms to help MARLO navigate the gentler waves between the earthen moguls by integrating the controller for forward-back motion with the one for side-to-side balance. With the team beginning to break up for vacation the following week, they took one last run at the Wave Field and were astonished at MARLO’s ability to walk down one of the gullies and back.
MARLO’s feedback control algorithms could help other two-legged robots as well as powered prosthetic legs gain similar capabilities.

Wave Field (http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wave-field-2)
These grassy undulations on a stretch of University of Michigan campus aren't bad landscaping, they're art

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/8cYx_VTKHNs

MARLO in the mist

Published on Jan 30, 2017


MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 bipedal robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University. The control algorithms are developed at the University of Michigan.

The outdoor experiment was done on Sunday, 22 January 2017. MARLO is walking on the North Campus of the University of Michigan, near the FXB, the Aerospace building.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/pTx2pyzxzTM

MARLO vs The Hill (22 degree slope)

Published on Feb 8, 2017


MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 bipedal robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University.

The outdoor experiment was done on Sunday, 22 January 2017. MARLO is walking on the North Campus of the University of Michigan, near the EECS Building.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/Gusf8-bWchg

MARLO walks in the snow, uphill!

Published on Apr 21, 2018


This video is from Winter 2017. For some odd reason, as Spring 2018 finally shows its face, the video came back to mind! We hope you enjoy it. Our attention is now on Cassie Blue and exoskeletons.

MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 bipedal robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University. The control algorithms are developed at the University of Michigan