Legged locomotion requires highly dynamic and efficient actuation as well as robust environment interaction. In the past years soft robots with elastic actuation have been investigated and their fitness for cyclic tasks and safe and robust environment interaction has been shown. To evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of series elastic actuation, variable impedance actuation as well as multi-articular elastic coupling in legged locomotion, we developed a two legged human size test-bed. These modular robotic legs give the possibility to evaluate and directly compare different elastic actuation concepts on a single system. Hopping and bipedal modal motion experiments where performed to proof the concept.

On-orbit servicing involves a new class of space missions in which a servicer spacecraft is launched into the orbit of a target spacecraft, the client. The servicer navigates to the client with the intention of manipulating it, using a robotic arm. Within this framework, this work presents a new robotic experimental facility which was recently built at the DLR to support the development and experimental validation of such orbital servicing robots. The facility allows reproducing a close-proximity scenario under realistic three-dimensional orbital dynamics conditions. Its salient features are described here, to include a fully actuated macro-micro system with multiple sensing capabilities, and analyses on its performance including the amount of space environment volume that can be simulated.

This paper gives an overview on the torque-controlled humanoid robot TORO, which has evolved from the former DLR Biped. In particular, we describe its mechanical design and dimensioning, its sensors, electronics and computer hardware. Additionally, we give a short introduction to the walking and multi-contact balancing strategies used for TORO.

Despite the progress since the first attempts of mankind to explore space, it appears that sending man in space remains challenging. While robotic systems are not yet ready to replace human presence, they provide an excellent support for astronauts during maintenance and hazardous tasks. This paper presents the development of a space qualified multi-fingered robotic hand and highlights the most interesting challenges. The design concept, the mechanical structure, the electronics architecture and the control system are presented throughout this global overview paper.

This paper gives an overview of the development of a novel biped walking machine. The robot is designed as an experimental system for studying biped locomotion based on torque controlled joints. As an underlying drive technology, the torque controlled joint units of the DLR-KUKA-Lightweight-Robot are employed. The relevant design choices for using this technology in a biped robot with integrated joint torque sensors are highlighted and some first experimental results using a conventional ZMP based control scheme are discussed.