Timon Homberger

About

Timon Homberger is a robotics researcher specializing in legged robot locomotion, autonomous navigation, and terrain perception for mobile robotic systems. His work spans the full stack of robot autonomy — from low-level control adaptation to high-level exploration in complex, unstructured environments. Homberger gained early recognition through his development of the Weaver hexapod robot, a six-legged platform capable of autonomous navigation on challenging terrain using vision-based controller adaptation, work that has accumulated over 100 citations across related publications. He contributed significantly to GPU-accelerated elevation mapping techniques that enable ground robots to efficiently perceive and navigate unknown environments, a paper that has attracted 105 citations and become a key reference in the field. Perhaps his most prominent achievement is his involvement with Team CERBERUS, the winning team of the prestigious DARPA Subterranean Challenge in 2021 — a landmark competition pushing the boundaries of autonomous exploration in underground environments. The associated publications have garnered over 130 citations collectively, reflecting their broad impact. His contribution to dexterous manipulation with quadrupedal robots further demonstrates his range, exploring the intersection of locomotion and manipulation. Homberger's body of work makes him a notable voice in advancing capable, perceptive, and autonomous legged robotic systems.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   CERBERUS: Autonomous Legged and Aerial Robotic Exploration in the Tunnel and Urban Circuits of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge

   109 citations · 2022
2. 2
   Elevation Mapping for Locomotion and Navigation using GPU

   105 citations · 2022
3. 3
   Weaver: Hexapod robot for autonomous navigation on unstructured terrain

   77 citations · 2018
4. 4
   Circus ANYmal: A Quadruped Learning Dexterous Manipulation with Its Limbs

   52 citations · 2021
5. 5
   CERBERUS: Autonomous Legged and Aerial Robotic Exploration in the Tunnel and Urban Circuits of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge

   21 citations · 2022
6. 6
   Autonomous navigation of hexapod robots with vision-based controller adaptation

   21 citations · 2017
7. 7
   Support Surface Estimation for Legged Robots

   20 citations · 2019
8. 8
   Team CERBERUS Wins the DARPA Subterranean Challenge: Technical Overview and Lessons Learned

   15 citations · 2022
9. 9
   Terrain-Dependant Control of Hexapod Robots Using Vision

   15 citations · 2017
10. 10
    Autonomous Navigation of Hexapod Robots With Vision-based Controller Adaptation

    10 citations · 2017

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links