In this impressive and entertaining talk, Aaron Ames shares the challenge and complexity of the mathematics and physics behind human-like, bipedal, robotic walking. He also introduces Cassie, a bipedal robot, who demonstrates her walking on stage. Aaron Ames runs the Advanced Mobility Laboratory (AMBER Lab) as part of the Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, the Department of Computing and Mathematical Science and at Caltech’s Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies (CAST). In the AMBER Lab, he and his students hand-build and test bipedal robots and prosthetic limbs, and create the theory and the algorithms that govern how the robots walk. The goal is to achieve human-like robotic walking and translate that capability to robotic assistive devices as well as robots that can explore environments not accessible to humans—including Mars and beyond.

Ames earned his undergraduate degrees from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and his MA and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2010, he received the National Science Foundation CAREER award for his research on bipedal robotic walking and its applications to prosthetic devices. He also received the 2015 Donald P. Eckman Award. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx