César Ferreira

• Researcher at University of Minho

There are more than one million people, each year, that will suffer a lower limb amputation. This condition occurs as a result of a wide range of diseases: diabetes, trauma or malignant tumors. An amputation means disability and a poor quality of life. The major challenge in the development of a prosthesis lies in restoring the missing human functi...

Bipedal locomotion is an important function of the human body, as it enables the mobility of the body through space, changing, therefore, the position of the person. Thus, a trauma (i.e limb amputation) or disease of the musculoskeletal system will affect not only the individual’s locomotion but also the physical and psychological health, as well a...

Locomotion of quadruped robots has not yet achieved the harmony, flexibility, efficiency and robustness of its biological counterparts. Biological research showed that spinal reflexes are crucial for a successful locomotion in the most varied terrains. In this context, the development of bio-inspired controllers seems to be a good way to move towar...

Each year thousands of people lose their lower limbs, mainly due to three causes: wars, accidents and vascular diseases. The development of prostheses is crucial to improve the quality of millions of people's lives by restoring their mobility. Lower limb prostheses can be divided into three major groups: passive, semi-active or variable damping and...

Each year thousands of people lose their lower limbs, mainly due to three causes: wars, accidents and vascular diseases. The development of prostheses is crucial to improve the quality of millions of people’s lives by restoring their mobility. Lower limb prostheses can be divided into three major groups: passive, semi-active or variable damping and...

Locomotion of quadruped robots has not yet achieved the robustness, harmony, efficiency and flexibility of its biological counterparts. Biological evidences showed that there is a two-way interaction between the Central Pattern Generators (CPGs) and the body in the locomotion process of animals. Therefore, the development of bio-inspired controller...

Biological evidences showed that locomotion in animals is generated at the spinal cord by a combination of Central Pattern Generators (CPGs) and reflexes. Therefore, the development of bio-inspired controllers seems to be a good and robust way to obtain an efficient and robust robotic locomotion, mimicking their biological counterparts. We present...

The development of bio-inspired controllers seems to be a good and robust way to obtain an efficient and robust robotic locomotion, mimicking their biological counterparts. In this Master Thesis two bio-inspired controllers were developed in order to generate stable and robust locomotion on uneven terrains. Firstly, a reflex controller that has to...

Quadruped locomotion in irregular and unknown terrains is still a problem to solve. The concept of reflexes is used in this work to contribute for the continuous search of answers about this theme. Biological researches show that spinal reflexes are crucial for a successful locomotion in the most varied terrains, so robotics investigation in this a...

Generating biped locomotion in robotic platforms is hard. It has to deal with the complexity of the tasks which requires the synchronization of several joints, while monitoring stability. Further, it is also expected to deal with the great heterogeneity of existing platforms. The generation of adaptable locomotion further increases the complexity o...