Claudio Semini

About

Claudio Semini is a pioneering roboticist whose work has fundamentally shaped the field of legged locomotion and hydraulically actuated robotic systems. Based at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Semini is best known as the principal architect of the HyQ robot family — hydraulically powered quadruped robots designed to navigate both dynamic and challenging unstructured terrains. His landmark 2011 paper introducing HyQ has accumulated over 627 citations, establishing it as a foundational reference in legged robotics. Semini subsequently led the development of HyQ2Max, an enhanced successor featuring self-righting capability and greater robustness, further cementing his influence in the field. Beyond hardware design, Semini has made significant contributions to torque and impedance control strategies, reactive locomotion frameworks, and motion planning for quadrupeds navigating steep and complex terrain. His work on whole-body control and coupled planning has pushed legged robots closer to real-world deployment in search-and-rescue and hazardous environments. A highly cited survey on hydraulic manipulator control reflects his broader expertise spanning robotic actuation systems. With multiple papers exceeding 100 citations and a cumulative citation count in the thousands, Semini's research continues to inspire a generation of roboticists pursuing versatile, autonomous legged machines.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Design of HyQ – a hydraulically and electrically actuated quadruped robot

   627 citations · 2011
2. 2
   Design of the Hydraulically Actuated, Torque-Controlled Quadruped Robot HyQ2Max

   261 citations · 2016
3. 3
   A Survey on Control of Hydraulic Robotic Manipulators With Projection to Future Trends

   259 citations · 2017
4. 4
   High-slope terrain locomotion for torque-controlled quadruped robots

   204 citations · 2016
5. 5
   Towards versatile legged robots through active impedance control

   175 citations · 2015
6. 6
   A reactive controller framework for quadrupedal locomotion on challenging terrain

   167 citations · 2013
7. 7
   Dynamic torque control of a hydraulic quadruped robot

   157 citations · 2012
8. 8
   HyQ - Design and Development of a Hydraulically Actuated Quadruped Robot

   148 citations · 2010
9. 9
   Motion Planning for Quadrupedal Locomotion: Coupled Planning, Terrain Mapping, and Whole-Body Control

   140 citations · 2020
10. 10
    Passive Whole-Body Control for Quadruped Robots: Experimental Validation Over Challenging Terrain

    133 citations · 2019

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links