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About

Keith W. Buffinton is a mechanical engineer whose research spans multibody dynamics, flexible robotics, legged locomotion, and soft robotics — a body of work that reflects both rigorous theoretical foundations and practical engineering innovation. His earliest and most influential contribution, a 1985 paper on constrained equations of motion (71 citations), established an elegant framework for incorporating additional constraints into existing dynamic formulations, a tool that remains valuable in computational mechanics. Building on this foundation, Buffinton extended his expertise to flexible robotic systems, examining elastic manipulators with prismatic joints and applying Extended Kalman Filtering to improve end-effector estimation in robots with compliant links. His work broadened into legged robotics through contributions to the Yobotics-IHMC humanoid robot project and the development of a MATLAB framework for efficient gait creation, enabling researchers to exploit natural dynamics for energy-optimal locomotion. His comparative studies of cost functions for electrically driven running robots demonstrate a sophisticated command of optimal control theory. More recently, Buffinton has investigated soft robotic actuators through finite element analysis, addressing the growing demand for human-safe robotic systems. Across these diverse areas, his cumulative citation record reflects sustained influence on both academic research and applied robotics engineering.