Developing controllers for biped robots is one of the great challenges of 21st century robotics. This research is expected to find applications ranging from service robotics and entertainment robotics to the exploration of terrains inaccessible to humans (atomic nuclear plants, distant planets, etc.). But it is also useful to other areas like prosthetics (to develop prostheses for handicapped people), sports science (to improve athlete’s performance), or neuroscience (to better understand the motor control system in animals).

This short talk presents a controller for biped robots inspired by how vertebrate animals produce locomotion. Three ingredients allow vertebrate animals to walk: clusters of neurons in the spinal cord; control commands from the brain stem; and sensory feedback. One can model this scheme with coupled non linear oscillators, and use this mathematical model to design a controller for a humanoid robot.