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STIFF EU project on enhancing biomorphic agility through variable stiffness - DLR hands - logo by Ian Saunders - artificial arm and hand by TU Delft
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STIFF is a research project on enhancing biomorphic agility of robot arms and hands through variable stiffness & elasticity. It is funded by the 7th framework programme of the European Union (grant agreement No: 231576).


Check our 2011 Summer School on Impedance


Institutional Partners
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany:
Project coordinator. Responsible for integrating a variable-impedance robotic system in the project. Development of a novel EMG system for human impedance measurements. Integration of human and robotic impedance control approaches.

Technische Universiteit Delft, Netherlands:
Responsible for modelling the human neuromuscular system from muscle to joint level. Developent of time varying system identification and parameter estimation techniques to quantify the model parameters from recorded data using haptic manipulators.

IDSIA, Switzerland:
Responsible for learning high-level task-specific controllers based on reinforcement signals for the flexible variable-impedance robot arm developed by DLR, and for inverse reinforcement learning to extract cost functions in collaboration with UEDIN.

University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom:
Responsible for the development of 'Optimal Feedback Control' based closed loop control paradigms, specifically tailored to redundant and variable impedance actuators. Developing methods to extract cost functions and comparing control policies to evaluate improvement in performance when modulating impedance optimally.

Université Paris Descartes - CNRS, France:
Responsible for studies of impedance control in humans, using a variety of techniques including direct physiologicial measurements (EMG, H-reflex), mathematical modeling and robotic simulation. The main emphasis is 1) to suggest biologically-inspired strategies to be applied to robotics control and 2) to use analogies with robotic devices to better understand human behaviour in terms of impedance.


artificial DLR hand grabs a glass; humanoid robot javelin thrower cartoon by Juergen Schmidhuber

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This website is dedicated to ICT-231576-STIFF, a project funded under the European FP7 programme.

Design:
Design inspired by a Fibonacci web design by J. Schmidhuber (with permission!)

STIFF logo (upper left corner) by Ian Saunders; other cartoons by J. Schmidhuber.

 

artificial DLR arm and hand; artificial hand squeezes STIFF

Copyright:
The copyright for content on this website is held by the STIFF Consortium, except for material provided by other organisations, where copyright ownership is indicated. You may link to us from your site, as long as our site appears in it's normal form, for example, it does not appear inside your own frameset or with any advertising. The materials on this website (pictures, papers, articles) can be freely used adding an hyperlink back to the STIFF website, unless where otherwise indicated. Commercial use is subject to consortium or DLR permission.

artificial DLR hand holding a wine bottle