Short Biography
Nicolas Van der Noot is performing a joint PhD supervision in two institutes:
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland, in the Biorobotics Laboratory (BIOROB)
- Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, in the Center for research in Energy and Mechatronics (CEREM)
He got his MS degree in Engineering, electromechanical orientation (mechatronics) from UCL. During his master, he had the opportunity to work in the BIOROB lab during his Erasmus exchange.
Research topic
N. Van der Noot is working on humanoid robot locomotion. More specifically, the purpose is to make the COMAN robot (a 95 cm tall humanoid) walk using a bio-inspired approach.
The key principle is the following. Virtual muscle groups are identified within each leg. Their state is computed, resulting in forces, and then in torques at the joint level. These torques are finally sent as references to the low-level controller.
Then, walking control reduces to find appropriate control rules for these virtual muscles. This involves reflex rules and central pattern generators.
Publications
- N. Van der Noot, A. J. Ijspeert, and R. Ronsse, “Biped Gait Controller for Large Speed Variations, Combining Reflexes and a Central Pattern Generator in a Neuromuscular Model,” in 2015 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (accepted). IEEE, 2015.
- N. Van der Noot, F. Dzeladini, A. J. Ijspeert, and R. Ronsse, “Simplification of the Hill Muscle Model Computation for Real-Time Walking Controllers with Large Time Steps,” in Dynamic Walking Conference (Poster), ETH Zurich, 2014.
- N. Van der Noot and A. Barrea, “Zero-Moment Point on a bipedal robot under bio-inspired walking control,” in MELECON 2014 – 2014 17th IEEE Mediterranean Electrotechnical Conference. IEEE, Apr. 2014, pp. 85–90.