Papers
18
Total Citations
2,619
H-Index
14
About
Twan Koolen is a leading figure in humanoid robotics, best known for his foundational work on balance and locomotion control. His research centers on optimization-based planning, capturability theory, and momentum-based control, which together enable bipedal robots to walk, run, and recover from disturbances with remarkable stability. Koolen’s most influential contribution is the development of capturability-based analysis, a framework that defines a legged system’s ability to stop without falling by taking a limited number of steps. This work, published in two parts (2012), has garnered over 740 citations combined and remains a cornerstone of dynamic locomotion research. He also led the design of a momentum-based control framework for the Atlas humanoid robot (2015, 814 citations), which uses a quadratic program to reconcile motion tasks with physical constraints—a key enabler for the robot’s performance in the DARPA Robotics Challenge. As a core member of Team IHMC, Koolen helped secure first place in the Virtual Robotics Challenge and contributed to the team’s widely-read lessons learned from the DRC Trials (2015, 242 citations). His work has profoundly shaped how researchers approach real-time balance, step planning, and whole-body control in humanoid robots.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 5Team IHMC's Lessons Learned from the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials242 citations · 2015
- 6An Architecture for Online Affordance‐based Perception and Whole‐body Planning140 citations · 2014
- 7Summary of Team IHMC's virtual robotics challenge entry86 citations · 2013
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- 10Director: A User Interface Designed for Robot Operation with Shared Autonomy49 citations · 2016