Papers
99
Total Citations
3,393
H-Index
33
About
Michael Gienger is a robotics researcher whose work spans humanoid locomotion, whole-body motion control, robot learning, and manipulation — contributing foundational advances across multiple decades of the field. He first gained significant recognition through his central role in developing "Johnnie," a dynamically stable biped robot, with a cluster of highly cited papers from 2002–2004 (accumulating over 490 citations combined) detailing the machine's mechanical design, sensor systems, and real-time control architecture. This work helped establish key methodologies for stable bipedal walking and jogging. Gienger subsequently extended his contributions into whole-body humanoid motion control and real-time collision avoidance, addressing the complex redundancy challenges inherent in multi-degree-of-freedom systems. His 2010 work on goal babbling for inverse kinematics learning (170 citations) introduced an elegant, bootstrapping approach to acquiring robot skills without expert knowledge. More recently, Gienger has shaped the growing fields of deformable object manipulation (244 citations) and simulation-to-real transfer in robot learning (101 citations), two of robotics' most pressing frontiers. With over 1,400 citations across his top works, his research consistently bridges theoretical rigor with practical robot deployment across industrial and service applications.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Challenges and Outlook in Robotic Manipulation of Deformable Objects244 citations · 2022
- 2Goal Babbling Permits Direct Learning of Inverse Kinematics170 citations · 2010
- 3Gaussian process implicit surfaces for shape estimation and grasping162 citations · 2011
- 4Towards the design of a biped jogging robot153 citations · 2002
- 5Sensor and control design of a dynamically stable biped robot135 citations · 2004
- 6Sensors and Control Concept of a Biped Robot113 citations · 2004
- 7Task-oriented whole body motion for humanoid robots113 citations · 2006
- 8Robot Learning From Randomized Simulations: A Review101 citations · 2022
- 9
- 10Computer system and control of biped "Johnnie"90 citations · 2004