Research Themes: Robot Locomotion | Robot Cognition | Robot Design and Control

SLIDER is Imperial's first bipedal walking robot! Its unique design allows it to walk without knees - instead, the legs slide vertically at each hip. SLIDER has been under development at the Robot Intelligence Lab since its inception in 2017, and has come a long way from idea to reality. We are iteratively working on new and improved prototypes of SLIDER, so stay tuned for updates!

SLIDER's novel design gives it several advantages over traditional, anthropomorphic walking robots: SLIDER is much lighter (weighing less than 15kg), lower cost (below £10,000), and its mass is concentrated closer to its pelvis. This allows us to use fast-to-compute dynamic models such as the linear inverted pendulum model with a high level of accuracy, and in the future we hope to have SLIDER running, jumping, and performing agile locomotion!