Publications | Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems

An introduction to the intellectual foundations and practical utility of the recent work on fairness and machine learning. Fairness and Machine Learning introduces advanced undergraduate and graduate students to the intellectual foundations of this recently emergent field, drawing on a diverse range of disciplinary perspectives to identify the opportunities and hazards of automated decision-making. It surveys the risks in many applications of machine learning and provides a review of an emerging set of proposed solutions, showing how even well-intentioned applications may give rise to objectionable results. It covers the statistical and causal measures used to evaluate the fairness of machine learning models as well as the procedural and substantive aspects of decision-making that are core to debates about fairness, including a review of legal and philosophical perspectives on discrimination. This incisive textbook prepares students of machine learning to do quantitative work on fairness while reflecting critically on its foundations and its practical utility.• Introduces the technical and normative foundations of fairness in automated decision-making• Covers the formal and computational methods for characterizing and addressing problems• Provides a critical assessment of their intellectual foundations and practical utility• Features rich pedagogy and extensive instructor resources

link (url) [BibTex]

2023

sf Barocas, S., Hardt, M., Narayanan, A. Fairness in Machine Learning: Limitations and Opportunities MIT Press, December 2023 (book)

link (url) [BibTex]

Denoising Representation Learning for Causal Discovery

Sakenyte, U.

Université de Genèva, Switzerland, December 2023, external supervision (mastersthesis)

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ei Sakenyte, U. Denoising Representation Learning for Causal Discovery Université de Genèva, Switzerland, December 2023, external supervision (mastersthesis)

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Navigating the Ocean of Biases: Political Bias Attribution in Language Models via Causal Structures

Jenny, D.

ETH Zurich, Switzerland, November 2023, external supervision (thesis)

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ei Jenny, D. Navigating the Ocean of Biases: Political Bias Attribution in Language Models via Causal Structures ETH Zurich, Switzerland, November 2023, external supervision (thesis)

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Efficient Sampling from Differentiable Matrix Elements

Kofler, A.

Technical University of Munich, Germany, September 2023 (mastersthesis)

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ei Kofler, A. Efficient Sampling from Differentiable Matrix Elements Technical University of Munich, Germany, September 2023 (mastersthesis)

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Intrinsic complexity and mechanisms of expressivity of cortical neurons

Spieler, A. M.

University of Tübingen, Germany, March 2023 (mastersthesis)

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ei Spieler, A. M. Intrinsic complexity and mechanisms of expressivity of cortical neurons University of Tübingen, Germany, March 2023 (mastersthesis)

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CausalEffect Estimation by Combining Observational and Interventional Data

Kladny, K.

ETH Zurich, Switzerland, February 2023 (mastersthesis)

lds ei

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lds ei Kladny, K. CausalEffect Estimation by Combining Observational and Interventional Data ETH Zurich, Switzerland, February 2023 (mastersthesis)

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Towards Generative Machine Teaching

Qui, Z.

Technical University of Munich, Germany, February 2023 (mastersthesis)

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ei Qui, Z. Towards Generative Machine Teaching Technical University of Munich, Germany, February 2023 (mastersthesis)

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ArchiSound: Audio Generation with Diffusion

Schneider, F.

ETH Zurich, Switzerland, January 2023, external supervision (mastersthesis)

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ei Schneider, F. ArchiSound: Audio Generation with Diffusion ETH Zurich, Switzerland, January 2023, external supervision (mastersthesis)

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Generation and Quantification of Spin in Robot Table Tennis

Dittrich, A.

University of Stuttgart, Germany, January 2023 (mastersthesis)

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ei Dittrich, A. Generation and Quantification of Spin in Robot Table Tennis University of Stuttgart, Germany, January 2023 (mastersthesis)

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2022

Proceedings of the Second Workshop on NLP for Positive Impact (NLP4PI)

Biester, L., Demszky, D., Jin, Z., Sachan, M., Tetreault, J., Wilson, S., Xiao, L., Zhao, J.

Association for Computational Linguistics, December 2022 (proceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

2022

ei Biester, L., Demszky, D., Jin, Z., Sachan, M., Tetreault, J., Wilson, S., Xiao, L., Zhao, J. Proceedings of the Second Workshop on NLP for Positive Impact (NLP4PI) Association for Computational Linguistics, December 2022 (proceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

Investigating Independent Mechanisms in Neural Networks

Liang, W.

Université Paris-Saclay, France, October 2022 (mastersthesis)

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ei Liang, W. Investigating Independent Mechanisms in Neural Networks Université Paris-Saclay, France, October 2022 (mastersthesis)

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Modeling subgroup differences in fMRI data: disentangling subgroup-specific responses from shared ones

Keidar, D.

ETH Zurich, Switzerland, October 2022 (mastersthesis)

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ei Keidar, D. Modeling subgroup differences in fMRI data: disentangling subgroup-specific responses from shared ones ETH Zurich, Switzerland, October 2022 (mastersthesis)

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Causality, causal digital twins, and their applications

Schölkopf, B.

Machine Learning for Science: Bridging Data-Driven and Mechanistic Modelling (Dagstuhl Seminar 22382), (Editors: Berens, Philipp and Cranmer, Kyle and Lawrence, Neil D. and von Luxburg, Ulrike and Montgomery, Jessica), September 2022 (talk)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

ei Schölkopf, B. Causality, causal digital twins, and their applications Machine Learning for Science: Bridging Data-Driven and Mechanistic Modelling (Dagstuhl Seminar 22382), (Editors: Berens, Philipp and Cranmer, Kyle and Lawrence, Neil D. and von Luxburg, Ulrike and Montgomery, Jessica), September 2022 (talk)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

Multi-Target Multi-Object Manipulation using Relational Deep Reinforcement Learning

Feil, M.

Technnical University Munich, Germany, September 2022 (mastersthesis)

[BibTex]

ei Feil, M. Multi-Target Multi-Object Manipulation using Relational Deep Reinforcement Learning Technnical University Munich, Germany, September 2022 (mastersthesis)

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Independent Mechanism Analysis for High Dimensions

Sliwa, J.

University of Tübingen, Germany, September 2022, (Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience) (mastersthesis)

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ei Sliwa, J. Independent Mechanism Analysis for High Dimensions University of Tübingen, Germany, September 2022, (Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience) (mastersthesis)

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Patterns, Predictions, and Actions: Foundations of Machine Learning

Hardt, M., Recht, B.

Princeton University Press, August 2022 (book)

Abstract

An authoritative, up-to-date graduate textbook on machine learning that highlights its historical context and societal impacts Patterns, Predictions, and Actions introduces graduate students to the essentials of machine learning while offering invaluable perspective on its history and social implications. Beginning with the foundations of decision making, Moritz Hardt and Benjamin Recht explain how representation, optimization, and generalization are the constituents of supervised learning. They go on to provide self-contained discussions of causality, the practice of causal inference, sequential decision making, and reinforcement learning, equipping readers with the concepts and tools they need to assess the consequences that may arise from acting on statistical decisions. Provides a modern introduction to machine learning, showing how data patterns support predictions and consequential actions Pays special attention to societal impacts and fairness in decision making Traces the development of machine learning from its origins to today Features a novel chapter on machine learning benchmarks and datasets Invites readers from all backgrounds, requiring some experience with probability, calculus, and linear algebra An essential textbook for students and a guide for researchers

link (url) [BibTex]

sf Hardt, M., Recht, B. Patterns, Predictions, and Actions: Foundations of Machine Learning Princeton University Press, August 2022 (book)

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On the Adversarial Robustness of Causal Algorithmic Recourse

Dominguez-Olmedo, R.

University of Tübingen, Germany, August 2022 (mastersthesis)

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ei Dominguez-Olmedo, R. On the Adversarial Robustness of Causal Algorithmic Recourse University of Tübingen, Germany, August 2022 (mastersthesis)

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Independent Mechanism Analysis in High-Dimensional Observation Spaces

Ghosh, S.

ETH Zurich, Switzerland, June 2022 (mastersthesis)

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ei Ghosh, S. Independent Mechanism Analysis in High-Dimensional Observation Spaces ETH Zurich, Switzerland, June 2022 (mastersthesis)

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Proceedings of the First Conference on Causal Learning and Reasoning (CLeaR 2022)

Schölkopf, B., Uhler, C., Zhang, K.

177, Proceedings of Machine Learning Research, PMLR, April 2022 (proceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

ei Schölkopf, B., Uhler, C., Zhang, K. Proceedings of the First Conference on Causal Learning and Reasoning (CLeaR 2022) 177, Proceedings of Machine Learning Research, PMLR, April 2022 (proceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

Voltage dependent investigations on the spin polarization of layered heterostructues

Miller, M.

Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, 2022 (mastersthesis)

mms

[BibTex]

mms Miller, M. Voltage dependent investigations on the spin polarization of layered heterostructues Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, 2022 (mastersthesis)

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2021

Learning Neural Causal Models with Active Interventions

Scherrer, N.

ETH Zurich, Switzerland, November 2021 (mastersthesis)

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2021

ei Scherrer, N. Learning Neural Causal Models with Active Interventions ETH Zurich, Switzerland, November 2021 (mastersthesis)

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HealthGen: Conditional Generation of Realistic Medical Time Series with Informative Missingness

Bing, S.

ETH Zurich, Switzerland, October 2021 (mastersthesis)

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ei Bing, S. HealthGen: Conditional Generation of Realistic Medical Time Series with Informative Missingness ETH Zurich, Switzerland, October 2021 (mastersthesis)

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Study of the Interventional Consistency of Autoencoders

Lanzillotta, G.

ETH Zurich, Switzerland, October 2021 (mastersthesis)

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ei Lanzillotta, G. Study of the Interventional Consistency of Autoencoders ETH Zurich, Switzerland, October 2021 (mastersthesis)

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Physically Plausible Tracking & Reconstruction of Dynamic Objects

Strecke, M., Stückler, J.

KIT Science Week Scientific Conference & DGR-Days 2021, October 2021 (talk)

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ev Strecke, M., Stückler, J. Physically Plausible Tracking & Reconstruction of Dynamic Objects KIT Science Week Scientific Conference & DGR-Days 2021, October 2021 (talk)

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Training with Few to Manipulate Many. On OOD generalization in relational reinforcement learning

Mambelli, D.

ETH Zurich, Switzerland, October 2021 (mastersthesis)

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ei Mambelli, D. Training with Few to Manipulate Many. On OOD generalization in relational reinforcement learning ETH Zurich, Switzerland, October 2021 (mastersthesis)

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Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on NLP for Positive Impact

Field, A., Prabhumoye, S., Sap, M., Jin, Z., Zhao, J., Brockett, C.

Association for Computational Linguistics, August 2021 (proceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

ei Field, A., Prabhumoye, S., Sap, M., Jin, Z., Zhao, J., Brockett, C. Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on NLP for Positive Impact Association for Computational Linguistics, August 2021 (proceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

Promoting metacognitive learning through systematic reflection

Frederic Becker, , Lieder, F.

The first edition of Life Improvement Science Conference, June 2021 (poster)

Abstract

Human decision-making is sometimes systematically biased toward suboptimal decisions. For example, people often make short-sighted choices because they don't give enough weight to the long-term consequences of their actions. Previous studies showed that it is possible to overcome such biases by teaching people a more rational decision strategy through instruction, demonstrations, or practice with feedback. The benefits of these approaches tend to be limited to situations that are very similar to those used during the training. One way to overcome this limitation is to create general tools and strategies that people can use to improve their decision-making in any situation. Here we propose one such approach, namely directing people to systematically reflect on how they make their decisions. In systematic reflection, past experience is re-evaluated with the intention to learn. In this study, we investigate how reflection affects how people learn to plan and whether reflective learning can help people to discover more far-sighted planning strategies. In our experiment participants solve a series of 30 planning problems where the immediate rewards are smaller and therefore less important than long-term rewards. Building on Wolfbauer et al. (2020), the experimental group is guided by four reflection prompts asking the participant to describe their planning strategy, the strategy's performance, and his or her emotional response, insights, and intention to change their strategy. The control group practices planning without reflection prompts. Our pilot data suggest that systematic reflection helps people to more rapidly discover adaptive planning strategies. Our findings suggest that reflection is useful not only for helping people learn what to do in a specific situation but also for helping people learn how to think about what to do. In future work, we will compare the effects of different types of reflection on the subsequent changes in people's decision strategies. Developing apps that prompt people to reflect on their decisions may be a promising approach to accelerating cognitive growth and promoting lifelong learning.

[BibTex]

re Frederic Becker, , Lieder, F. Promoting metacognitive learning through systematic reflection The first edition of Life Improvement Science Conference, June 2021 (poster)

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Improving Human Decision-Making by Discovering Efficient Strategies for Hierarchical Planning

Heindrich, L., Consul, S., Stojcheski, J., Lieder, F.

Tübingen, Germany, The first edition of Life Improvement Science Conference, June 2021 (talk) Accepted

Abstract

The discovery of decision strategies is an essential part of creating effective cognitive tutors that teach planning and decision-making skills to humans. In the context of bounded rationality, this requires weighing the benefits of different planning operations compared to their computational costs. For small decision problems, it has already been shown that near-optimal decision strategies can be discovered automatically and that the discovered strategies can be taught to humans to increase their performance. Unfortunately, these near-optimal strategy discovery algorithms have not been able to scale well to larger problems due to their computational complexity. In this talk, we will present recent work at the Rationality Enhancement Group to overcome the computational bottleneck of existing strategy discovery algorithms. Our approach makes use of the hierarchical structure of human behavior by decomposing sequential decision problems into two sub-problems: setting a goal and planning how to achieve it. An additional metacontroller component is introduced to switch the current goal when it becomes beneficial. The hierarchical decomposition enables us to discover near-optimal strategies for human planning in larger and more complex tasks than previously possible. We then show in online experiments that teaching the discovered strategies to humans improves their performance in complex sequential decision-making tasks.

Project Page [BibTex]

re Heindrich, L., Consul, S., Stojcheski, J., Lieder, F. Improving Human Decision-Making by Discovering Efficient Strategies for Hierarchical Planning Tübingen, Germany, The first edition of Life Improvement Science Conference, June 2021 (talk) Accepted

Project Page [BibTex]

Robotic Surgery Training in AR: Multimodal Record and Replay

Krauthausen, F.

pages: 1-147, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, May 2021, Study Program in Software Engineering (mastersthesis)

[BibTex]

hi Krauthausen, F. Robotic Surgery Training in AR: Multimodal Record and Replay pages: 1-147, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, May 2021, Study Program in Software Engineering (mastersthesis)

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Direct detection of spin Hall effect induced torques in platinum/ferromagnetic bilayer systems

Alten, F.

Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, January 2021 (mastersthesis)

mms

[BibTex]

mms Alten, F. Direct detection of spin Hall effect induced torques in platinum/ferromagnetic bilayer systems Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, January 2021 (mastersthesis)

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Method of making one or more fibrils, computer implemented method of simulating an adhesive force of one or more fibrils and fibril

Sitti, M., Liimatainen, V.

2021, EP Prio. Patent App. 21 162 253.5 (mpi_year_book)

[BibTex]

pi Sitti, M., Liimatainen, V. Method of making one or more fibrils, computer implemented method of simulating an adhesive force of one or more fibrils and fibril 2021, EP Prio. Patent App. 21 162 253.5 (mpi_year_book)

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Reinforcement Learning Algorithms: Analysis and Applications

Belousov, B., H., A., Klink, P., Parisi, S., Peters, J.

883, Studies in Computational Intelligence, Springer International Publishing, 2021 (book)

DOI [BibTex]

ei Belousov, B., H., A., Klink, P., Parisi, S., Peters, J. Reinforcement Learning Algorithms: Analysis and Applications 883, Studies in Computational Intelligence, Springer International Publishing, 2021 (book)

DOI [BibTex]

Community detection in heterogeneously attributed networks

Zottino, N.

Politecnico di Torino, 2021 (mastersthesis)

pio

link (url) [BibTex]

pio Zottino, N. Community detection in heterogeneously attributed networks Politecnico di Torino, 2021 (mastersthesis)

link (url) [BibTex]

Scientific Report 2016 - 2021

2021 (mpi_year_book)

Abstract

This report presents research done at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems from January2016 to November 2021. It is our fourth report since the founding of the institute in 2011. Dueto the fact that the upcoming evaluation is an extended one, the report covers a longer reportingperiod.This scientific report is organized as follows: we begin with an overview of the institute, includingan outline of its structure, an introduction of our latest research departments, and a presentationof our main collaborative initiatives and activities (Chapter1). The central part of the scientificreport consists of chapters on the research conducted by the institute’s departments (Chapters2to6) and its independent research groups (Chapters7 to24), as well as the work of the institute’scentral scientific facilities (Chapter25). For entities founded after January 2016, the respectivereport sections cover work done from the date of the establishment of the department, group, orfacility. These chapters are followed by a summary of selected outreach activities and scientificevents hosted by the institute (Chapter26). The scientific publications of the featured departmentsand research groups published during the 6-year review period complete this scientific report.

ei hi ps pi rm

Scientific Report 2016 - 2021 [BibTex]

ei hi ps pi rm Scientific Report 2016 - 2021 2021 (mpi_year_book)

Scientific Report 2016 - 2021 [BibTex]

2020

Voltage dependent interfacial magnetism in multilayer systems

Nacke, R.

Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, December 2020 (thesis)

mms

[BibTex]

2020

mms Nacke, R. Voltage dependent interfacial magnetism in multilayer systems Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, December 2020 (thesis)

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Hydromagnonics: Manipulation of magnonic systems with hydrogen

Sauter, R.

Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, December 2020 (mastersthesis)

mms

[BibTex]

mms Sauter, R. Hydromagnonics: Manipulation of magnonic systems with hydrogen Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, December 2020 (mastersthesis)

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A Robotic Manipulation Benchmark for Causal Structure and Transfer Learning

Ahmed, O.

ETH Zurich, Switzerland, October 2020 (mastersthesis)

[BibTex]

ei Ahmed, O. A Robotic Manipulation Benchmark for Causal Structure and Transfer Learning ETH Zurich, Switzerland, October 2020 (mastersthesis)

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A Comprehensive Benchmark Evaluation of Synthetic Data Generation for Biomedical Imaging

DuMont Schütte, A.

ETH Zurich, Switzerland, October 2020 (mastersthesis)

[BibTex]

ei DuMont Schütte, A. A Comprehensive Benchmark Evaluation of Synthetic Data Generation for Biomedical Imaging ETH Zurich, Switzerland, October 2020 (mastersthesis)

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Towards Hybrid Active and Passive Compliant Mechanisms in Legged Robots

Milad Shafiee Ashtiani, A. A. S., Badri-Sproewitz, A.

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), IEEE, October 2020 (poster) Accepted

dlg

Abstract Poster [BibTex]

dlg Milad Shafiee Ashtiani, A. A. S., Badri-Sproewitz, A. Towards Hybrid Active and Passive Compliant Mechanisms in Legged Robots IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), IEEE, October 2020 (poster) Accepted

Abstract Poster [BibTex]

Deep learning for the parameter estimation of tight-binding Hamiltonians

Cacioppo, A.

University of Roma, La Sapienza, Italy, May 2020 (mastersthesis)

[BibTex]

ei Cacioppo, A. Deep learning for the parameter estimation of tight-binding Hamiltonians University of Roma, La Sapienza, Italy, May 2020 (mastersthesis)

[BibTex]

Beyond Basins of Attraction: Quantifying Robustness of Natural Dynamics

Heim, S., Badri-Spröwitz, A.

May 2020 (talk)

dlg

Presentation [BibTex]

dlg Heim, S., Badri-Spröwitz, A. Beyond Basins of Attraction: Quantifying Robustness of Natural Dynamics May 2020 (talk)

Presentation [BibTex]

VP above or below? A new perspective on the story of the virtual point

Drama, Ö., Badri-Spröwitz, A.

Dynamic Walking, May 2020 (poster)

Abstract

The spring inverted pendulum model with an extended trunk (TSLIP) is widely used to investigate the postural stability in bipedal locomotion [1, 2]. The challenge of the model is to define a hip torque that generates feasible gait patterns while stabilizing the floating trunk. The virtual point (VP) method is proposed as a simplified solution, where the hip torque is coupled to the passive compliant leg force via a virtual point. This geometric coupling is based on the assumption that the instantaneous ground reaction forces of the stance phase (GRF) intersect at a single virtual point.

dlg

Poster Abstract link (url) [BibTex]

dlg Drama, Ö., Badri-Spröwitz, A. VP above or below? A new perspective on the story of the virtual point Dynamic Walking, May 2020 (poster)

Poster Abstract link (url) [BibTex]

Viscous Damping in Legged Locomotion

Mo, A., Izzi, F., Haeufle, D. F. B., Badri-Spröwitz, A.

Dynamic Walking, May 2020 (poster)

Abstract

Damping likely plays an essential role in legged animal locomotion, but remains an insufficiently understood mechanism. Intrinsic damping muscle forces can potentially add to the joint torque output during unexpected impacts, stabilise movements, convert the system’s energy, and reject unexpected perturbations.

dlg

Abstract Poster link (url) Project Page [BibTex]

dlg Mo, A., Izzi, F., Haeufle, D. F. B., Badri-Spröwitz, A. Viscous Damping in Legged Locomotion Dynamic Walking, May 2020 (poster)

Abstract Poster link (url) Project Page [BibTex]

How Quadrupeds Benefit from Lower Leg Passive Elasticity

Ruppert, F., Badri-Spröwitz, A.

Dynamic Walking, May 2020 (poster)

Abstract

Recently developed and fully actuated, legged robots start showing exciting locomotion capabilities, but rely heavily on high-power actuators, high-frequency sensors, and complex locomotion controllers. The engineering solutions implemented in these legged robots are much different compared to animals. Vertebrate animals share magnitudes slower neurocontrol signal velocities [1] compared to their robot counterparts. Also, animals feature a plethora of cascaded and underactuated passive elastic structures [2].

dlg

Abstract Poster link (url) Project Page [BibTex]