Locomotor
Control
Systems
Laboratory

The mission of the Locomotor Control Systems Laboratory is to develop high-performance control systems for robotic prostheses and orthoses to enable mobility and improve quality of life for persons with disabilities. We approach this needs-driven research from the perspective of dynamical systems and control theory, investigating and translating concepts from legged robotics into transformative solutions for physical rehabilitation. Located at the University of Michigan, the laboratory is a highly interdisciplinary environment dedicated to scientific innovation, clinical translation, and individual career development. Explore the lab.

Robert D. Gregg IV, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Robotics
University of Michigan

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NIH Open Access Bibliography

• 12/2023: We received a $3 million NIH R01 renewal on modeling and control of continuously-varying activities for agile powered prosthetic legs.
• 10/2023: Shihao Cheng wins the 2023 IROS Best Student Paper Award.
• 08/2023: Congrats to Dr. Emma Reznick and Dr. Nikhil Divekar for successfully defending their dissertations.
• 04/2023: Congrats to Dr. Gray Thomas for accepting a tenure-track faculty position at Texas A&M University.
• 01/2023: Prof. Gregg is the Program Chair of the 2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) in Detroit, MI.
• 08/2022: Dr. Cara Welker joins the faculty of the University of Colorado Boulder.
• 09/2021: We received a $1.7 million NIH R01 grant on the design and control of modular powered orthoses for broad patient populations.
• 08/2021: Congratulations to Dr. Jianping Lin for successfully defending his dissertation.
• 11/2020: Congratulations to Dr. Jonathan Horn and Dr. Mark Yeatman for successfully defending their dissertations.
• 08/2020: Prof. Gregg, Prof. Rouse, and Prof. Rombokas receive a new NSF NRI grant on open-source control methods for robotic prosthetic legs.
• 08/2020: Congratulations to Dr. Kyle Embry and Dr. Saurav Kumar for successfully defending their dissertations. Dr. Embry accepted a postdoc position at Shirley Ryan Ability Lab and Dr. Kumar accepted a postdoc at Carnegie Mellon University.
• 07/2020: Our latest robotic leg design was published in the IEEE Transactions on Robotics and highlighted in this article.
• 05/2020: Congratulations to Dr. Toby Elery, Dr. David Allen, and Dr. Hanqi Zhu for successfully defending their dissertations.
• 12/2019: Congratulations to Dr. Ge Lv for accepting a tenure-track faculty position at Clemson University.
• 08/2019: Prof. Gregg and the LocoLab have moved to the University of Michigan!
ARCHIVED NEWS
06/2019: Congrats to Dr. Siavash Rezazadeh for accepting a tenure-track faculty position at the University of Denver.
11/2018: Our backdrivable exoskeleton research was published as the cover article of the IEEE Control Systems Magazine.
09/2018: Prof. Gregg, Dr. Rezazadeh, and Prof. Rouse receive a new NSF NRI grant to investigate robust compliant actuators.
08/2018: Prof. Gregg receives a $2.2 million NIH R01 grant to investigate the control of agile powered prosthetic legs.
04/2018: Congratulations to Dr. David Quintero and Dr. Ge Lv for successfully defending their dissertations.
03/2018: Congratulations to Dr. Alireza Mohammadi who will join the faculty at the University of Michigan-Dearborn in Fall 2018.
01/2018: IEEE Transactions on Robotics to publish our latest study on powered prosthetic leg control with three amputee subjects.
10/2017: Ph.D. student Edgar Bolivar wins the Best Student Robotics Paper Award of the 2017 ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conf..
08/2017: Prof. Gregg and collaborators Prof. Rouse and Prof. Geyer receive a new NSF grant through the National Robotics Initiative 2.0.
08/2017: Prof. Gregg and Prof. Gans receive a new NSF grant through the Dynamics, Control, and Systems Diagnostics program.
05/2017: Congrats to Dr. Dario Villarreal for graduating and accepting a tenure-track faculty position at Southern Methodist University.
02/2017: Prof. Gregg receives the NSF CAREER Award.
11/2016: We conducted our first amputee experiment with our robotic knee-ankle prosthesis.
10/2016: LocoLab welcomes postdoctoral fellow Alireza Mohammadi, Ph.D. from University of Toronto.
09/2016: Prof. Gregg and collaborator Prof. Kaveh Hamed receive a NSF grant through the National Robotics Initiative.
08/2016: LocoLab welcomes Chris Nesler from Northwestern University, joining the lab as Research Engineer.
12/2015: Ph.D. student Ge Lv wins the Best Student Paper Award of the 2015 IEEE Conf. Decision & Control, congrats Ge.
09/2015: LocoLab welcomes Dr. Siavash Rezazadeh from Oregon State University, joining the lab as Research Scientist.
08/2015: LocoLab research featured in the MIT Technology Review.
04/2015: Congratulations to Dr. Anne Martin who will join the faculty at Penn State University in 2016.
04/2015: Renovations finished for our new gait lab at the UT Southwestern Medical Center.
03/2015: Congratulations to Hanqi Zhu for receiving the Founder's Distinguished Graduate Fellowship.
12/2014: FastCoLabs highlights our recent study published in IEEE Transactions on Robotics.
06/2014: LocoLab welcomes postdoctoral fellow Anne Martin, Ph.D. from University of Notre Dame.
04/2014: Prof. Gregg gives the keynote address at the annual meeting of the Texas Association of Orthotists and Prosthetists.
09/2013: Prof. Gregg is awarded the 2013 NIH Director's New Innovator Award ($2.3 million over 5 years) to research phase-based control of locomotion for high-performance prostheses and orthoses.
06/2013: Ph.D. student Dario Villarreal is awarded the CONACYT graduate fellowship.
06/2013: The faculty phase begins for Prof. Gregg's $500,000 Career Award at the Scientific Interface from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
06/2013: Prof. Gregg joins the faculty of the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering at UT Dallas.
07/2012: Dr. Gregg is interviewed by Nature.