Tom Xiao and Connor Sumner Attend SOURCE Spring Showcase

DLAR Lab members Tom Xiao and Connor Sumner recently attended the SOURCE Spring Showcase, where they presented their innovative research. The event provided an excellent platform for showcasing student-driven projects and fostering collaboration within the academic community.

We are also excited to announce the 2025 Spring Showcase! Please save the dates for the upcoming Orange Talks & Award Reception and the Poster Session & Interactive Displays:

• Orange Talks & Award Reception:
  Thursday, March 27, 2025 – 4:00-6:00 pm
  Bird Library, Peter Graham Scholarly Commons (Room 114)

Stay tuned for more details, and we look forward to seeing you there!

All four of our graduate students from the DLAR Lab—Jing Cheng, Yasser Alqaham, Jiayu Ding, and Rohit Jakkula—presented their innovative research at the 2025 Research Day, showcasing the cutting-edge work being done in robotics.

We are proud to announce that Jing Cheng earned Second Place (tied) for her presentation on “Harnessing Natural Oscillations for High-Speed, Efficient Asymmetrical Locomotion in Quadrupedal Robots,” advised by Dr. Zhenyu Gan. Jing’s research focuses on improving the efficiency of quadrupedal locomotion through natural oscillations, contributing to high-speed robotic movement.

Yasser Alqaham received an Honorable Mention for his presentation on “16 Ways to Gallop: Energetics and Body Dynamics of High-Speed Quadrupedal Gaits,” also advised by Dr. Zhenyu Gan. Yasser’s work analyzes the energetic efficiency and body dynamics of various galloping gaits for quadrupedal robots.

Congratulations to all of our graduate students for their outstanding presentations and well-deserved recognition!

The DLAR Lab has submitted a paper titled “16 Ways to Gallop: Energetics and Body Dynamics of High-Speed Quadrupedal Gaits” to IROS 2025. The paper, authored by Yasser G. Alqaham, Jing Cheng, and Zhenyu Gan, systematically analyzes various galloping gaits, focusing on their energetic efficiency and body dynamics. The study investigates different galloping footfall sequences, exploring how the number of flight phases and the phase relationships between the front and rear legs impact energy consumption.

Using the A1 quadrupedal robot, the team employed hybrid dynamics and trajectory optimization to minimize the cost of transport across a range of speeds. The results demonstrate that the number of flight phases significantly influences energy efficiency, with galloping gaits with two flight phases showing the best performance at higher speeds. These findings offer valuable insights for improving the efficiency of quadrupedal robots and advancing high-speed locomotion strategies.

The full paper and more details can be found on our GitHub: https://github.com/DLARlab/16WaystoGallop