Human Centered Robotics Lab, The University of Texas at Austin
Luis Sentis's UT Austin lab behind the DRACO humanoids, Dreamer and the ControlIt! whole-body control framework; spun off Apptronik.
The Human Centered Robotics Lab (HCRL) is a research group in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin, led by Professor Luis Sentis. Its work centers on the decision and control of human-centered robots: whole-body control and locomotion of humanoids, compliant actuation, dexterous multi-fingered manipulation, haptic wearables and teleoperation, embodiment-aware skill learning and space robotics education.
The lab has built or co-developed a long series of research robots. Former platforms include the UT-Apptronik DRACO humanoid and DRACO 2, a 10-DOF line-feet biped driven by Apptronik liquid-cooled viscoelastic actuators with Medulla/Axon embedded controllers, a tactical IMU, a whole-body controller and a phase-space dynamic locomotion planner; the Mercury biped with six series elastic actuators and torque sensing on every joint; Dreamer, an upper-body mobile humanoid with a 7-DOF compliant series-elastic arm, a 3-DOF torque-controlled torso, a 5-DOF tendon-driven hand and an expressive Meka-UT Austin head on the Trikey holonomic base with torque sensing on all wheels; the SAGIT force-amplification exoskeleton and SCORPIO compliant manipulator built with Apptronik; and Apptronik P170 compact series elastic actuators used in exoskeleton and compliant locomotion studies. Current platforms listed by the lab include an R1 humanoid robot (January 2026), the Bumpybot safe wheelchair, the AIVE/FLARE-X Scout aircraft, the Antero rehabilitation platform, a learning gripper and a Roboligent torque-control arm. With Sony Group Corporation the lab developed the ARISTO Hand, a tendon-driven anthropomorphic research hand for manipulating small, thin and fragile objects, and it collaborates with Sony on haptic interfaces.
On the software side, HCRL created ControlIt!, an LGPLv2.1 open-source framework for whole-body operational space control developed with NASA Johnson Space Center for the 2013 DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials. It supports floating-base dynamics and contact constraints, runs on ROS with RTAI or RT-Preempt real-time patches, and was used to simulate locomotion and manipulation on NASA's Valkyrie humanoid.
The lab has produced several spin-offs. Humanoid robot maker Apptronik was spun out of HCRL and co-founded with a former student who serves as its CTO, and former PhD student Heeyong Huh founded Suhwa, which develops wearable interfaces that read hand gestures and neuromuscular signals.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
DRACO 2 biped
10-DOF line-feet biped with liquid-cooled viscoelastic actuators for dynamic locomotion research.
ControlIt!
Open-source (LGPLv2.1) whole-body operational space control framework for humanoids, built with NASA JSC.
Contact Human Centered Robotics Lab, The University of Texas at Austin
WEBSITE
https://sites.utexas.edu/hcrl/HEADQUARTERS
United States
Company Facts
Founded
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Primary Role
Research Institute
Company Size
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Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
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Funding Stage
Grant / Non-profit
Funding Total
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Keywords
- Human Centered Robotics Lab
- The University of Texas at Austin
- DRACO humanoid
- whole-body control
- ControlIt!
- series elastic actuator
- Dreamer humanoid
- ARISTO Hand
- Apptronik spin-off
- legged locomotion
- haptic teleoperation
- Research Institute
- Humanoid
- Legged Robot
- Control & Software
- Motion & Actuation
- Biped
- Education & Research
- Aerospace & Space
- Healthcare & Senior Care
