• Dynamics of legged systems: compliant leg behavior as key to walking and running, mathematical description of legged locomotion based on compliant legs.

• Control principles for rapid stable locomotion with compliant legs: mechanical self-stability and generalization to time-encoded deadbeat control of rapid legged systems, application to legged robots.

• Motor control principles of compliant legs: positive force feedback and generalization to purely reflex-driven, self-adaptive biped locomotion.

• Prosthetics: Prosthetic leg design and control based on principles of biological legged systems.

• Auxiliaries: ground contact models.

   

(Find details on my research on the next pages.)

PhD Thesis

Simple models of legged locomotion based on compliant limb behavior.

Journal Articles

Geyer H, Herr H, Seyfarth A. A purely refelx-driven model of human locomotion that walks and almost runs without CPG or predefined joint motions (in preparation).
Geyer H. An analytical description of walking and running dynamics (in preparation).
Geyer H, Seyfarth A, Herr H, Blickhan R. Running bounciness (submitted).
Blickhan R, Seyfarth A, Geyer H, Grimmer S, Wagner H, Günther M. Intelligence by mechanics. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. A, 365: 199-220, 2007.
Seyfarth A, Geyer H, Blickhan R, Lipfert S, Rummel J, Minekawa Y, Iida F. Running and walking with compliant legs. In Fast Motions in Biomechanics and Robotics: Optimization and Feedback. Lecture Notes in Control and Information Science (eds. Diehl M, Mombauer K), 340, Springer, Heidelberg, 2006.
Geyer H, Seyfarth A, Blickhan R. Compliant leg behaviour explains basic dynamics of walking and running. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B, 273: 2861-2867, 2006.
Knuesel H, Geyer H, Seyfarth A. Influence of swing leg movement on running stability. Hum. Mov. Sci., 24: 532-543, 2005.
Geyer H, Seyfarth A, Blickhan R. Spring-mass running: simple approximate solution and application to gait stability. J. Theor. Biol., 232(3): 315-328, 2005.
Geyer H, Seyfarth A, Blickhan R. Positive force feedback in bouncing gaits? Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B: Biol. Sci., 270(1529): 2173-2183, 2003.
Seyfarth A, Geyer H, Herr H. Swing-Leg Retraction: A simple control model for stable running. J. Exp. Biol., 206: 2547-2555, 2003.
Seyfarth A, Geyer H, Günther M, Blickhan R. A movement criterion for running. J. Biomech., 35(5): 649-655, 2002.

Selected Conference Proceedings

Geyer H, Seyfarth A, Blickhan R. Compliant limb behavior: exploiting the basic mechanics of biological legged locomotion for the control of legged sytems. In: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Motion and Vibration Control (MOVIC). Daejon, Korea, 2006.
Dittrich E, Geyer H, Karguth A, Seyfarth A. Obstacle avoidance in a simple hopping robot. In: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR), Brussels, Belgium, 2006.
Geyer H, Seyfarth A, Blickhan R. An integrative view on legged locomotion obtained from the bipedal spring-mass dynamics. Dynamics Walking Workshop. Ann Arbor, Mi, USA, 2006.
Geyer H, Seyfarth A, Blickhan R. Should humanoids really walk on rigid legs? In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Adaptive Motion in Animals and Machines (AMAM). Ilmenau, Germany, ISBN 3938843039, 2005.
Geyer H, Seyfarth A, Blickhan R. The spring-mass model for walking. In: Proceedings of the XXth congress of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB). Cleveland, OH, USA, 2005.
Geyer H, Seyfarth A, Blickhan R. From running to walking. In: Proceedings of the XIXth congress of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB). Dunedin, New Zealand, 2003.
Seyfarth A, Geyer H, Dietz V. The use of leg retraction in obstacle avoidance. In: Proceedings of the XIXth congress of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB). Dunedin, New Zealand, 2003.
Geyer H, Blickhan R, Seyfarth A. Natural dynamics of spring-like running: emergence of selfstability. In: Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR 2002). Ed. P. Bidaud and F. B. Amar, Professional Engineering Publishing Ltd., Bury St Edmunds and London, UK, 2002.
Seyfarth A, Geyer H. Natural control of spring-like running: optimized self-stabilization. In: Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR 2002). Ed. P. Bidaud and F. B. Amar, Professional Engineering Publishing Ltd., Bury St Edmunds and London, UK, 2002.
Geyer H, Seyfarth A, Blickhan R, Herr H. Local feedback mechanisms for stable bouncing. In: Proceedings of the IVth World Congress on Biomechanics, Calgary, Canada, 2002.
Geyer H, Seyfarth A, Blickhan R. Proprioceptive feedback in running. In: Proceedings of the XVIIIth congress of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB), Zurich, Switzerland, 2001.