Dru Clark

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Dru Clark’s research lies at the intersection of robotic control systems and dexterous manipulation, with a focus on hierarchical architectures and teleoperation. His most influential work, “HIC: an operating system for hierarchies of servo loops” (2003, 22 citations), introduced a novel operating system designed specifically for the nested servo loops common in robot controllers. By treating servos as lightweight processes, Clark developed a simple yet efficient scheduler that streamlined the coordination of complex, multi-layered control systems—a foundational contribution to real-time robotic software. Earlier, in “Teleoperation experiments with a Utah/MIT hand and a VPL DataGlove” (1989, 7 citations), Clark demonstrated a pioneering teleoperation system that allowed a human operator to control a Utah/MIT Dextrous Hand via a VPL DataGlove. This work not only advanced intuitive human-robot interaction but also enabled the hand to operate autonomously for program development, showcasing a dual-mode architecture that bridged teleoperation and autonomous control. Though his citation counts are modest, Clark’s contributions are notable for their early integration of hardware and software in dexterous robotics, influencing subsequent work in real-time control and haptic interfaces.