Yanran Ding

The ARCAD Lab at the Robotics Department, University of Michigan, is hiring a Post-doc to help lead our research. You can find application instructions on our website: sites.google.com/umich.edu/arca… We are looking forward to working with you!

We validated the kinodynamic MPC on a custom monoped hopping robot, achieving a energy consumption reduction of 14.8% compared with spring-less case. My PhD student, Yulun Zhuang, will present this work in ICRA. Hope to see you there!

The key take-away is that MPC works well for robots with parallel springs because it's able to reason about the spring dynamics throughout a full gait cycle.

How can legged robots achieve energy-efficient running by leveraging spring dynamics? Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2503.05666 Video: youtu.be/AF11qMXJD48?si…

Robotics at @umich in 2014. Ten years ago, our Robotics PhD and Master's program had just started. We no longer use Operation in ROB 550... for now.

If you are attending ICRA 2024, we have prepared a welcome kit for you to make the most of the conference. Link to the kit: bit.ly/icra24welcomeT…

[Seminar Series] We are excited about the grand finale for our virtual seminar series this year. We will host Prof. Toshiyuki Ohtsuka from Kyoto University, giving a lecture on "Numerical Optimization for Nonlinear Model Predictive Control". See you there!

[Announcement] 2023 TC on Model-based Optimization for Robotics Best Paper Award Nomination. Nominations Due: February 16th, 2024 [self-nominations encouraged, but limited to 2 per group] Winners Announced: March 22nd, 2024 (targeted) Nomination Form: forms.gle/2GjTDxVyUxYU9r…

[Seminar Series] Our second virtual seminar will be given by Dr. Alessandro Saccon from TU/e, at 9AM EST on Jan. 31st, 2024.

Hi everyone, we hope your 2024 is off to a great start. With this message, we have a few updates to share, summarized below. Please feel free to repost!

Interested applicants should send a letter of motivation (max 1 page) along with a recent CV by January 15, 2024 (AOE) via the following form: forms.gle/kW6P9Ksf1PaJgY…

We're hiring robotics faculty @umich! Come help define the discipline: robotics.umich.edu/jobs

For more information about the research topics, please visit: sites.google.com/view/yanrandin…

My group at Michigan Robotics is looking for two Ph.D. students starting Fall 2024. We are interested in agile legged robot control and design. If you are passionate about legged robots, please apply at: robotics.umich.edu/academics/grad…. The deadline (December 1st) is coming soon!

[IROS Event] The TC on Model-Based Optimization for Robotics and the TC on Humanoid Robotics are co-organizing an in-person networking event at IROS 2023!!!😀

[Event] TC Poster Session and Networking Event: Our TC will hold a virtual poster session and networking event on Tuesday, July 11th, 9:00-11:30 AM EDT (3:00-5:30 PM CEST, 10:00 PM - 12:30 AM JST).

@inseungkang @CarnegieMellon @CMU_Mech Congratulations Inseung! It's great to go through the journey of the faculty job hunt with you!

I am thrilled to announce that I will be joining @CarnegieMellon @CMU_Mech as an assistant professor starting in January 2024! I will be recruiting graduate students in the upcoming cycle, so please feel free to reach out to me if interested!

(3/n) Students with solid physics/math/coding backgrounds and hands-on experience are encouraged to apply. Please send me an email with your CV at yanran@mit.edu.

(2/n) Topics include 1. Model-based optimization for planning and control 2. Mechatronics design and system integration 3. Machine Learning for robotic locomotion

(1/n) I am excited to announce that I will join @UMRobotics as an assistant professor this fall! My group has multiple positions open starting in Spring/Fall 2024.