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About

Joana Coelho is a robotics researcher whose work centers on legged locomotion, hexapod robot control, and multibody dynamics. Her most cited contribution, "Trends in the Control of Hexapod Robots: A Survey" (2021, 47 citations), established her as a key voice in the field by systematically mapping the state of the art in hexapod control strategies, highlighting their potential for deployment in exploration, surveillance, and rescue missions where stable locomotion across complex terrain is critical. Building on this foundation, Coelho has made significant strides in developing practical solutions for real-world robotic challenges, including a novel posture control approach enabling hexapods to navigate irregular terrains (2023, 16 citations) and reactive locomotion frameworks that allow robots to dynamically adapt to uneven ground conditions. Her 2024 work on multibody dynamics in robotics (17 citations) demonstrates a broadening of her expertise toward the fundamental mechanical modeling of contact events, essential for simulating realistic robot-environment interactions. Through simulation tools such as CoppeliaSim and ROS, she bridges theoretical modeling with implementation. With a growing citation record, Coelho's research meaningfully advances autonomous legged robotics for demanding, unstructured environments.