Science Explorer Interactive view Map

Robotic Locomotion and Control

Robotic Locomotion and Control is a research topic within Biomedical Engineering. Science Explorer counts 21k research works in it since 1956. 14.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the biomechanics and control strategies for bipedal locomotion in robots and animals. It covers topics such as dynamic walking, central pattern generators, passive-dynamic walkers, quadruped robots, humanoid robots, and the control of locomotion. The research aims to understand and replicate the complex mechanisms involved in bipedal movement.

  • Bipedal Locomotion
  • Dynamic Walking
  • Central Pattern Generators
  • Legged Robots
  • Passive-Dynamic Walkers
  • Quadruped Robots
  • Humanoid Robots
  • Control of Locomotion
  • Gait Generation
  • Robotics Biomechanics
Research works
21k
fractional, since 1956
In the world top 10%
3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
14.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
-4%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Robotic Locomotion and Control research?

By volume, China and Japan publish the most (1.3k and 481 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 1.3k works
  2. 2 Japan 481 works
  3. 3 United States 472 works
  4. 4 India 144 works
  5. 5 Germany 120 works
  6. 6 South Korea 116 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 95 works
  8. 8 Italy 93 works
  9. 9 France 60 works
  10. 10 Russia 58 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 45.1%Japan: 16.1%United States: 15.8%India: 4.8%6 others listed: 18.1%45%largest
China1,348 · 45.1%Japan481 · 16.1%United States472 · 15.8%India144 · 4.8%6 others listed541 · 18.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Robotic Locomotion and Control research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Harbin Institute of Technology publishes the most Robotic Locomotion and Control research, followed by Beijing Institute of Technology and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Who are the leading researchers in Robotic Locomotion and Control?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Robotic Locomotion and Control include Jitendra Malik, Takeo Kanade and Jürgen Schmidhuber.

  1. 1 Jitendra Malik United States 12k citations
  2. 2 Takeo Kanade United States 4.8k citations
  3. 3 Jürgen Schmidhuber Switzerland 4.3k citations
  4. 4 Roland Siegwart Switzerland 3.3k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Robotic Locomotion and Control research done?

The largest centres of Robotic Locomotion and Control research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Tokyo (Japan), Shanghai (China) and Harbin (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Genoa.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 265 works
  2. 2 Tokyo Japan 173 works
  3. 3 Shanghai China 119 works
  4. 4 Harbin China 92 works
  5. 5 Nanjing China 75 works
  6. 6 Hangzhou China 75 works
  7. 7 Guangzhou China 58 works
  8. 8 Wuhan China 56 works
  9. 9 Shenzhen China 53 works
  10. 10 Xi'an China 49 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. GenoaIT · 29.8 works14×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Robotic Locomotion and Control than the world average.

See Robotic Locomotion and Control on the map

Where is the best place to study Robotic Locomotion and Control?

Among universities, judged by research, ETH Zurich, Harbin Institute of Technology and Beijing Institute of Technology score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%60%mean 27.34%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →ETH Zurich: 16, 57.1%Harbin Institute of Technology: 69, 11.1%Beijing Institute of Technology: 55, 9.1%École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne: 13, 34.7%California Institute of Technology: 16, 13.9%Southern University of Science and Technology: 21, 9.3%Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 10, 50.3%Carnegie Mellon University: 13, 26.3%Oregon State University: 9, 37.1%Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology: 16, 24.5%ETH ZurichÉcole Polytechnique …Harbin Institute of …Beijing Institute of…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 ETH ZurichSwitzerland 69.457.1%6.9×16 +51.7%
2 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 56.511.1%11.7×69 -5.7%
3 Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 56.19.1%12.9×55 +26.7%
4 École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneSwitzerland 53.134.7%8.5×13 -17.5%
5 California Institute of TechnologyUnited States 50.613.9%18.5×16 +36.0%
6 Southern University of Science and TechnologyChina 49.59.3%10.9×21
7 Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States 47.950.3%4.7×10 +5.9%
8 Carnegie Mellon UniversityUnited States 47.426.3%9.1×13 -12.3%
9 Oregon State UniversityUnited States 47.337.1%8.7×9 -18.7%
10 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and TechnologySouth Korea 47.224.5%9.6×16 -39.0%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Robotic Locomotion and Control research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 4% lower than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Robotic Locomotion and Control.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.