Avik De

About

Avik De is a roboticist whose research spans legged locomotion, robot design, and dynamical systems, with particular emphasis on building agile, physically capable machines grounded in rigorous mathematical theory. He is perhaps best known for his foundational contributions to direct-drive legged robotics, most visibly through the landmark 2016 paper introducing Minitaur — a dynamically running and leaping quadruped — which has accumulated over 316 citations and helped establish a new class of mechanically transparent, high-bandwidth robots. His work on the Penn Jerboa further demonstrated how minimalist, underactuated designs equipped with tails could achieve sophisticated leaping and frontal-plane stabilization behaviors. Theoretically, De has made important strides in extending classical averaging methods to hybrid dynamical systems, enabling formal analysis and synthesis of quadrupedal gaits including bounding, trotting, and pronking. His research on brushless DC motor control has also advanced task-oriented actuator design for robotics. Spanning early work in physical human-robot interaction safety to recent investigations in pedipulation and modular locomotion composition, De's career reflects a sustained commitment to unifying elegant mechanical design with mathematically principled control, making him a significant voice in modern legged robotics research.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Design Principles for a Family of Direct-Drive Legged Robots

   316 citations · 2016
2. 2
   Vertical hopper compositions for preflexive and feedback-stabilized quadrupedal bounding, pacing, pronking, and trotting

   63 citations · 2018
3. 3
   Physical Human-Robot Interaction in Anthropic Domains: Safety and Dependability

   28 citations · 2005
4. 4
   Tail-assisted rigid and compliant legged leaping

   25 citations · 2015
5. 5
   Frontal plane stabilization and hopping with a 2DOF tail

   19 citations · 2016
6. 6
   Task-Based Control and Design of a BLDC Actuator for Robotics

   19 citations · 2019
7. 7
   Composition of Templates for Transitional Pedipulation Behaviors

   15 citations · 2022
8. 8
   Toward dynamical sensor management for reactive wall-following

   15 citations · 2013
9. 9
   A hybrid dynamical extension of averaging and its application to the analysis of legged gait stability

   15 citations · 2018
10. 10
    Modular Hopping and Running via Parallel Composition

    14 citations · 2017

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links