This is our first use of a "human gantry" system! The idea is that we can safely slow the fall of the robot and minimize damage, and yet we can go places where our wheel-based gantry could not go. Because we only have one robot, we have to take care of it.
The control design and implementation for MARLO are done in the Dynamic Legged Locomotion Laboratory at the University of Michigan led by Professor Jessy Grizzle. MARLO is one of three ATRIAS 2.1 bipedal robots designed and built by Prof. Jonathan Hurst and the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory at Oregon State University.
MARLO is walking on prosthetic feet with women's size 7 SKIDS tennis shoes. There is no actuation at the ankle. She is not using a camera or anything else to sense the terrain. The self-balance is based on an advanced feedback control system, a dynamic model, and proprioception (joint encoders and an IMU). The navigation is directed by a joystick controller.
Details on the controller can be found here: http://web.eecs.umich.edu/faculty/grizzle/publications-robotics.html
Special thanks to Brent Griffin for help with the experiment.