The First Ruperto Carola Symposium in the International Science Forum of the University of Heidelberg
IWH IWR
University
 
Supported by the Klaus-Georg and Sigrid Hengstberger Foundation
 

Fast Motions in Biomechanics and Robotics
- Optimization and Feedback Control -

September 7-9, 2005, Heidelberg

  See here for a group picture.
  • How do humans walk and run stably?
  • What kind of feedback mechanisms are necessary for running motions, or even for acrobatics?
  • Why do robots still walk so much slower than their biological counterparts, despite all technological progress?
  • How can biology help to design feedback mechanisms for robots?
  • What alternatives exist in other fields of engineering?
Aim of the symposium is to provide a forum for an interdisciplinary community of researchers from engineering, biomechanics, mathematics, and computer science, to address open questions related to the control of fast motions in biomechanics, robotics, and mechatronics. Emphasis is put on model based simulation and optimization methods that can be used for analysis and optimal design of motion and feedback control systems.

Topics:
  • state-of-the-art feedback concepts in robotics, and their limits
  • feedback mechanisms in fast biomechanical motion
  • inherent stability properties of biological and technical systems
  • efficient modelling of mechanical systems with many degrees of freedom
  • application of model predictive control (MPC) to fast robot movements
  • robot feedback based on hybrid system optimal control
  • fast computational methods for generation of feedback in real-time
  • application of robust and repetitive control for robot motion
Principal Speakers:
  • Frank Allgöwer, University of Stuttgart: System theoretic properties, efficient computations and applications in nonlinear model predictive control
  • Hans Georg Bock, University of Heidelberg: Efficient numerical methods for optimal control in robotics
  • James Bobrow, University of California, Irvine: Progress on the algorithmic optimization of robot motion
  • Wolfgang J. Daunicht, University of Düsseldorf: Development of a closed loop neuroprosthesis for paraplegics
  • Toshio Fukuda, Nagoya University: Multi-locomotion control of biped locomotion and brachiation robots
  • Katsuhisa Furuta, Tokyo Denki University: Human adaptive mechatronics-control system assisting human operation
  • Manfred Morari, ETH Zurich: Controlling Hybrid Systems - from Theory to Applications
  • Friedrich Pfeiffer, TU Munich: The problem of fast machine walking

Participation in the symposium is only on invitation by the organizers. A limited number of places is available for additional listeners subject to a participation fee of Euro 200 that includes all social events.
A peer reviewed proceedings volume will appear soon after the symposium within a special issue of "Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences" (Springer Verlag).

Deadlines:
April 30, 2005:
Registration and submission of abstracts.
Please use the Latex abstract template with corresponding Style file (or write a 150 word abstract in plain text).

August 15, 2005:
Submission of proceedings articles (20 pages). The peer reviewed articles will appear in a special issue of "Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences" (Springer Verlag). Please use the Springer Latex template (ZIP) and send the article to .

 
Location: The symposium will take place in the IWH, the International Science Forum of the University of Heidelberg. The IWH has been founded in 1986 at the 600th anniversary of the university, and is located in the old town of Heidelberg, just below the castle. Besides the lecture hall and several rooms for discussions and coffee breaks, it offers a beautiful garden.

Schedule: The symposium starts on Tuesday evening, September 6, at 7 p.m. with a welcome reception and registration. The scientific program will start on Wednesday morning at 8:30 with a welcome address by the rector of the university. The symposium will end on Friday, September 9, in the late afternoon at 5 or 6 p.m. (Preliminary Program)

Travel information: Heidelberg is located in the south west of Germany close to the airports of Frankfurt (Germanies largest airport) and Stuttgart (both 1 hour by train . From Frankfurt airport there is also a Lufthansa Shuttle Bus to Heidelberg). It is also well connected by shuttle buses to the smaller airports Karlsruhe-Baden (1,5 hours) and Frankfurt-Hahn (2,5 hours). How to arrive to the IWH is described on a dedicated IWH webpage. Tourist information on Heidelberg is available from the "Heidelberg Convention and Visitors Bureau" .

Accomodation: The organizers offer their help in finding suitable accomodation, and hotel rooms in the vicinity of the symposium location have been pre-reserved for all symposium participants for the period from September 6 to September 9/10. Please contact the organizers indicating your arrival and departure dates. Principal speakers will be accomodated in the guest rooms of the IWH.

Contact:
Please send all enquiries regarding the symposium to .

The symposium is organized by
Moritz Diehl and Katja Mombaur
Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing
University of Heidelberg
Im Neuenheimer Feld 368
69120 Heidelberg

Page last updated: July 22, 2005, by Moritz Diehl