Agile Robotics Lab at UA

Welcome to the home page of the Agile Robotics Lab at University of Alabama (ARL@UA) located in the South Engineering Research Center (SERC) Building. The lab conducts applied research in the fields of bio-inspired robotics, soft robotics, tensegrity robotics, inertial sensing and optimal estimation.

Recent Publications

C. Freeman, A. N. Mahendran and V. Vikas, “Environment-Centric Learning Approach for Gait Synthesis in Terrestrial Soft Robots,” in IEEE Transactions on Robotics (TRO), Mar 2025. [Article Link, arxiv, Youtube Video]

L. Ervin and V. Vikas, “Geometric Static Modeling Framework for Piecewise-Continuous Curved-Link Multi Point-of-Contact Tensegrity Robots,” in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)  Oct 2024. [Article Link, arxiv, Youtube Video]

A. N. Mahendran, C. Freeman, A. Chang, M. McDougall, P. Vela and V. Vikas . “Multi-gait Locomotion Planning and Tracking for Tendon-actuated Terrestrial Soft Robot (TerreSoRo).”  2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2023). [Article Link, arxiv, Youtube Video]

C. Woods, and V. Vikas . “Design and Modeling Framework for DexTeR: Dexterous Continuum Tensegrity Manipulator.” ASME. J. Mechanisms Robotics. June 2023; 15(3): 031006.  [Article Link, Youtube Video].

C. Woods and V. Vikas “Joint angle estimation using accelerometer arrays and model-based filtering”, IEEE Sensors Journal, 2022 [Article Link, Youtube Video].

H. Bezawada, C. Woods and V. Vikas, “Shape reconstruction of soft manipulators using vision and IMU feedback'”, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)​ [Article Link, YouTube Video].

News

Dec, 2024. Agile Robotics Lab featured in the College of Engineering, University of Alabama webpage! Link, Archive Link

Nov, 2024. We had the pleasure of hosting Prof. Pierre Larochelle at the Agile Robotics Lab. He gave an insightful seminar as part of the Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series!

Nov, 2024. We had the pleasure of hosting Prof. Gregory Chirikjian at the Agile Robotics Lab. He gave an insightful seminar as part of the College of Engineering Eminent Scholars and Leaders Seminar Series!

Nov, 2024.  Agile Robotics Lab featured in UA News: “Future of Lifting? Robotics Lab Exosuit Boosts the Spine“

Oct, 2024. Congratulations to Lauren for getting “Geometric Static Modeling Framework for Piecewise-Continuous Curved-Link Multi Point-of-Contact Tensegrity Robots” published at IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)!

Oct, 2024. Our lab featured in the Capstone Engineer: “Where Biology Meets Technology: The Agile Robotics Lab is breaking ground in nature-inspired robotics“!