Walter Fetter Lages
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
Papers
31
Total Citations
438
H-Index
10
About
Walter Fetter Lages is a Brazilian robotics and control systems researcher whose work has significantly advanced the application of Model Predictive Control (MPC) to robotic systems. His most influential contributions center on motion control of mobile robots, particularly nonholonomic wheeled platforms, where he demonstrated that MPC provides an elegant framework for handling real-world state and input constraints in both trajectory tracking and point stabilization tasks. His 2005 paper on MPC-based trajectory tracking for mobile robots has accumulated 118 citations, establishing him as a key voice in the field, with related works on linearized and nonlinear MPC variants further cementing this reputation. Beyond mobile robotics, Lages has explored the challenging domain of underactuated systems, publishing multiple studies on brachiation robots controlled via predictive methods — work that required sophisticated dynamic modeling of systems with fewer actuators than degrees of freedom. His research portfolio also extends to practical applications, including infrared-based robotic inspection of power transmission lines, system identification for differential-drive robots, and robot software architectures integrating ROS and OROCOS frameworks. With a body of work spanning theoretical control design to real-world implementation, Lages represents a bridge between rigorous mathematical formulation and applied robotics engineering.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1MOBILE ROBOT TRAJECTORY TRACKING USING MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL118 citations · 2005
- 2Point stabilization of mobile robots with nonlinear model predictive control73 citations · 2006
- 3
- 4Robotized inspection of power lines with infrared vision26 citations · 2010
- 5Linear Predictive Control of a Brachiation Robot20 citations · 2006
- 6MPC Applied to Motion Control of an Underactuated Brachiation Robot14 citations · 2006
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- 8
- 9An Architecture for Controlling the Barrett WAM Robot Using ROS and OROCOS10 citations · 2014
- 10PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF AN UNDERACTUATED BRACHIATION ROBOT10 citations · 2006