Marko Bjelonic

About

Marko Bjelonic is a leading robotics researcher specializing in legged and wheeled-legged locomotion, motion planning, and autonomous robot systems for complex real-world environments. His work has fundamentally advanced the field of quadrupedal robotics, with a particular focus on enabling robots to navigate challenging terrain and perform practical tasks in industrial and emergency scenarios. Bjelonic's contributions span several interconnected areas. His early work on the ANYmal quadrupedal robot (330 citations) established a foundational platform for legged robotics research, while subsequent studies demonstrated its deployment in demanding real-world applications including oil and gas inspection and search-and-rescue missions (202 citations). He pioneered innovative approaches to rough-terrain locomotion through perceptive foothold optimization and motion planning (200 and 109 citations), and broke new ground by developing wheeled-legged hybrid robots that intelligently combine driving and walking capabilities across multiple highly cited works (168, 115, 106, and 100 citations). His mobile manipulation framework ALMA (128 citations) extended quadrupedal robots into collaborative human environments, and his involvement with the CERBERUS team in the prestigious DARPA Subterranean Challenge (109 citations) demonstrated real-world autonomous exploration at the highest competitive level. With over 1,500 cumulative citations, Bjelonic's research continues to shape the next generation of versatile, field-deployable robotic systems.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   ANYmal - toward legged robots for harsh environments

   330 citations · 2017
2. 2
   Advances in real‐world applications for legged robots

   202 citations · 2018
3. 3
   Robust Rough-Terrain Locomotion with a Quadrupedal Robot

   200 citations · 2018
4. 4
   Keep Rollin’ - Whole-Body Motion Control and Planning for Wheeled Quadrupedal Robots

   168 citations · 2019
5. 5
   ALMA - Articulated Locomotion and Manipulation for a Torque-Controllable Robot

   128 citations · 2019
6. 6
   Whole-Body MPC and Online Gait Sequence Generation for Wheeled-Legged Robots

   115 citations · 2021
7. 7
   Perceptive Locomotion in Rough Terrain – Online Foothold Optimization

   109 citations · 2020
8. 8
   CERBERUS: Autonomous Legged and Aerial Robotic Exploration in the Tunnel and Urban Circuits of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge

   109 citations · 2022
9. 9
   Trajectory Optimization for Wheeled-Legged Quadrupedal Robots Using Linearized ZMP Constraints

   106 citations · 2019
10. 10
    Trajectory Optimization for Wheeled-Legged Quadrupedal Robots Driving in Challenging Terrain

    100 citations · 2020

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links