Oussama Khatib

Professor of Computer Science
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Stanford University

In the field of robotics, the motivation to emulate human movement has been driven by the desire to endow robots, humanoids in particular, with human-like movement characteristics. Inspired by human behaviors, our extensive study of human musculoskeletal system has brought insights and results that proved extremely valuable in human biomechanics. Understanding human motion is a complex procedure that requires accurate reconstruction of movement sequences, modeling of musculoskeletal kinematics, dynamics, and actuation, and suitable criteria for the characterization of performance. These issues have much in common with the problems of articulated body systems studied in robotics research. Building on methodologies and techniques developed in robotics, a host of new effective tools have been established for the synthesis of human motion. These include efficient algorithms for the simulation of musculoskeletal systems, novel physio-mechanical criteria and performance measures, real-time tracking and reconstruction of human motion, and accurate human performance characterization. These developments are providing new avenues for exploring human motion -- with exciting prospects for novel clinical therapies, athletic training, character animation, and human performance improvement.

Oussama Khatib received his Doctorate degree in Electrical Engineering from Sup'Aero, Toulouse, France, in 1980. He is Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University. He is Co-Editor of the Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics series (STAR), and has served on the Editorial Boards of several journals as well as Chair or Co-Chair for numerous international conferences. He co-edited the Springer Handbook of Robotics, which received the PROSE Award for Excellence in Physical Sciences & Mathematics. He is a Fellow of IEEE and has served RAS as a Distinguished Lecturer, as a member of the Administrative Committee, and as the Program Chair of ICRA 2000. He is the President of the International Foundation of Robotics Research (IFRR) and a recipient of the Japan Robot Association (JARA) Award in Research and Development and the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Pioneer Award.