Papers
32
Total Citations
2,200
H-Index
14
About
Franck Plestan is a control systems researcher whose work spans bipedal robotics, nonlinear control theory, and cable-driven parallel robots. He is perhaps best known for his foundational contributions to the stability analysis of biped locomotion, most notably his highly cited 2001 paper on asymptotically stable walking for biped robots using impulse-effect systems theory, which has accumulated nearly 1,000 citations and remains a cornerstone reference in legged robotics. His involvement with the RABBIT project — a landmark experimental bipedal robot platform described in a 2003 paper with over 500 citations — further cemented his reputation as a key figure bridging theoretical control analysis and physical robot implementation. Plestan extended these contributions through Poincaré-based stability methods for underactuated biped models, advancing tools for analyzing periodic orbits in complex mechanical systems. Beyond locomotion, his research encompasses observer-based control for orientation estimation in walking robots without direct measurement, robust control strategies for cable-driven parallel robots handling variable payloads, and predictor-based methods for time-delay systems. His body of work demonstrates a consistent commitment to rigorous mathematical foundations applied to challenging real-world robotic platforms, making him an influential voice across multiple domains of modern control engineering.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2RABBIT: a testbed for advanced control theory538 citations · 2003
- 3Stable walking of a 7-dof biped robot264 citations · 2003
- 4Predictor-based control of time-delay systems: a survey66 citations · 2022
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- 7Estimation of Absolute Orientation for a Bipedal Robot: Experimental Results24 citations · 2011
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