Lars Beglinger

Papers

Total Citations

119

H-Index

About

Lars Beglinger is a roboticist whose research focuses on dynamic legged locomotion for space exploration, with a particular emphasis on low-gravity environments. His most notable contribution is the development of SpaceBok, a quadrupedal robot introduced in his highly cited 2019 paper (119 citations). Designed to investigate how legged systems can traverse celestial bodies like asteroids or the Moon, SpaceBok stands at a hip height of 500 mm and weighs 20 kg—comparable to a medium-sized dog. Its leg configuration, inspired by the spring-loaded inverted pendulum model, enables bounding and hopping gaits that exploit reduced gravity, offering a novel alternative to traditional wheeled rovers. Beglinger’s work bridges robotics and planetary science, demonstrating how dynamic locomotion can overcome challenging terrains where conventional mobility fails. By pushing the boundaries of bio-inspired design and control, his research has garnered significant attention, positioning him as a key figure in the emerging field of extraterrestrial robotics. His achievements highlight the potential for agile, adaptive robots to revolutionize future space missions.