{"id":1089,"date":"2023-02-02T22:59:15","date_gmt":"2023-02-02T22:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/?page_id=1089"},"modified":"2025-06-29T14:00:41","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T14:00:41","slug":"phd-in-robotics-virginia-tech","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/index.php\/projects\/phd-in-robotics-virginia-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"Master of Engineering &#8211; Virginia Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>At the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trecvt.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">TREC Lab<\/a> I continued the research on legged locomotion I started during my Master&#8217;s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the video below I have implemented the <strong>DRC Kinematics Based State Estimator<\/strong> from IHMC on our robot. It is using the IMU that I am holding to update the robots orientation in space, as it can be seen on SCS2 up on the computer screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PANDORA State Estimation\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7g4iIz7_Vos?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Below is the work I have conducted during my first year at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kavehakbarihamed.com\/\">HDSRL<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Single Rigid Body MPC for Biped\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eAmE_JYt_7k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Single Rigid Body MPC for Biped<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I have started to explore Machine Learning using massive parallel RL (leveraging both Isaac Gym from NVIDIA and ETH Zurich legged gym) to train Pandora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PANDORA RL - Flat Ground\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x4If872BoeI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">PANDORA &#8216;blind&#8217; walking on flat ground<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PANDORA RL - Rough Terrain\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AKKpHcboHtU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rough Terrain Policy for PANDORA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"491\" src=\"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/para-1024x491.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1133\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/para-1024x491.png 1024w, https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/para-300x144.png 300w, https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/para-768x368.png 768w, https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/para-1536x736.png 1536w, https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/para-2048x982.png 2048w, https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/para-1568x752.png 1568w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">4096 parallel environments for Deep RL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I have also worked on model based approaches:  an optimization algorithm also based on Capture Point, that finds optimal footstep locations using both the footstep adjustment and ankle strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"447\" src=\"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mpcf-1024x447.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1090\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mpcf-1024x447.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mpcf-300x131.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mpcf-768x335.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mpcf-1536x671.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mpcf-1568x685.jpg 1568w, https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mpcf.jpg 1702w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For TREC\u2019s 3D printed humanoid robot, we used IHMC Open Robotics Software to run Pandora, which gave me the opportunity to learn Java and some of the available algorithms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PANDORA - Demo\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1HFcSQ8HBgQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">PANDORA Range of Motion Demo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Below you can also see the concept video we made (not online) of teleoperation, one of the goals we aimed for in the lab:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"ForceBot x Pandora - Concept Demo\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jLrmFqly3AY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">ForceBot x Pandora &#8211; Tele-locomotion Concept <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the TREC Lab I continued the research on legged locomotion I started during my Master&#8217;s. On the video below I have implemented the DRC Kinematics Based State Estimator from IHMC on our robot. It is using the IMU that I am holding to update the robots orientation in space, as it can be seen &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/index.php\/projects\/phd-in-robotics-virginia-tech\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Master of Engineering &#8211; Virginia Tech&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":10,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1089","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1089"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1184,"href":"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1089\/revisions\/1184"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivanekman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}