Jonathan W. Hurst

[Airicist]

Director of Dynamic Robotics Laboratory

Co-founder and CRO of Agility Robotics

mime.oregonstate.edu/people/hurst

linkedin.com/in/jonathanwhurst

Projects:

Cassie, bipedal robot

ATRIAS 2.0 Monopod, ATRIAS 1.0 Monopod, walking monopod robots

ATRIAS 2.1, walking bipedal robot

MARLO, bipedal robot

MABEL, world's fastest bipedal robot

RABBIT, bipedal robot

[Airicist]

Robotics: Physical Interaction Tasks

Uploaded on Nov 30, 2011

Oregon State University professor Jonathan Hurst talks about his work with robotics and physical interaction tasks.

[Airicist]

Walking and running: bio-inspired robotics

Published on Mar 16, 2016

Imagine a world in which robots interact wth us on a daily basis, where seeing a robot walking down the street is no longer the realm of science fiction. This reality is closer than it appears and according to Oregon State University researcher Jonathan Hurst, science fiction will soon become science fact.

Jonathan W. Hurst is an Associate Professor of Robotics in the School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering at Oregon State University, as well as the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Agility Robotics. He holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering, and both an M.S. and Ph.D. in robotics, all from Carnegie Mellon University. His university research focuses on understanding the fundamental science and engineering best practices for legged locomotion. Investigations range from numerical studies and analysis of animal data, to simulation studies of theoretical models, to designing, constructing, and experimenting with legged robots for walking and running.

[Airicist]

RI Seminar: Jonathan Hurst : Designing robots to walk and run

Streamed live April 1, 2016

Jonathan Hurst
College of Engineering Deans Professor, Oregon State University

April 01, 2016

Abstract
Legged locomotion is a challenging physical interaction task: underactuation, unexpected impacts, and large and rapidly changing forces and velocities are commonplace. Utilizing passive hardware dynamics in tight integration with the software control, with both aspects of “behavior design” considered together as part of the overall design process, can drastically improve the performance of a machine as measured by efficiency, agility, and robustness to disturbances.

This design philosophy was recently demonstrated on ATRIAS, a bipedal spring-mass robot. The passive dynamics of the hardware match a simple biomechanically-derived spring-mass model, while the software control relies on the passive dynamics as an integrated aspect of the system behavior. ATRIAS walks using approximately 400W of power, accelerates to a run, handles large unexpected obstacles with no prior knowledge of the terrain, and is the first machine to reproduce the dynamics of a human walking gait. In this presentation, we explain our design philosophy, results with ATRIAS, current work on a successor robot Cassie, and plans for commercialization of this technology by Agility Robotics.


Speaker Biography
Jonathan W. Hurst is the College of Engineering Dean's Professor of Robotics in the School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering at Oregon State University, and the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Agility Robotics. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, and both an M.S. and Ph.D. in Robotics, all from Carnegie Mellon University. His university research focuses on understanding the fundamental science and engineering best practices for legged locomotion. Investigations range from numerical studies and analysis of animal data, to simulation studies of theoretical models, to designing, constructing, and experimenting with legged robots for walking and running.

Walking

[Airicist]

Ep.1 - The Robot Report Podcast: Jonathan Hurst, Co-Founder and CTO of Agility Robotics

Jun 4, 2020

Jonathan Hurst, Co-founder and CTO of Agility Robotics, joins the podcast to talk about the challenges and opportunities of developing legged robots. Hurst also discusses the evolution of his company's legged robots, Cassie and Digit, comparisons to Boston Dynamics, and much more.

[Airicist2]

Yata Memorial Lecture : Jonathan Hurst : Human-Centric Robots and How Learning Enables Generality

Apr 11, 2024

Jonathan Hurst
Co-Founder
Chief Robot Officer
April 11, 2024

Human-Centric Robots and How Learning Enables Generality

Abstract:

Humans have dreamt of robot helpers forever. What’s new is that this dream is becoming real. New developments in AI, building on foundations of hardware and passive dynamics, enable vastly improved generality. Robots can step out of highly structured environments and become more human-centric: operating in human spaces, interacting with people, and doing some basic human workflows. At Agility Robotics, our bipedal human-centric robot, Digit, is learning skills inside a digital twin of real-world customer environments, and beginning to achieve performance that exceeds any prior control approach, with less engineering time invested to learn new skills. By connecting a Large Language Model, Digit can convert natural language high-level requests into complex robot instructions, composing the library of skills together, using human context to achieve real work in the human world. All of this is new – and it is never going back: AI will drive a fast-following robot revolution that is going to change the way we live.

Bio:

Jonathan W. Hurst is Chief Robot Officer and co-founder of Agility Robotics, and Professor and co-founder of the Oregon State University Robotics Institute. He holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an M.S. and Ph.D. in robotics, all from Carnegie Mellon University. Throughout his career, his research has focused on understanding the fundamental science and engineering best practices for robotic legged locomotion and physical interaction. At OSU, he led the team that developed ATRIAS, the first robot to reproduce human walking gait dynamics, and Cassie, which holds the world record for the fastest 100 meter dash by a bipedal robot. At Agility Robotics, Hurst is building upon this R&D foundation to develop human-centric, multi-purpose robots such as Digit, the first commercially available bipedal robot made for real-world logistics work. Hurst spends every day working to realize his lifelong vision of robots going where people go, generating greater productivity across the economy, and improving quality of life for all.