Dr.-Ing. Babu Ajish
Robotics Expert & Team Lead at DFKI
Highly accomplished Robotics Expert with 17+ years of experience in intelligent control and AI-driven systems. Proven leader in successfully acquiring and managing high-value national, EU, and industrial robotics projects, while leading a team of up to 16 researchers and engineers.
17+
Years of Experience
24+
Publications
16
Team Members Led
Research Focus
Key areas of expertise and innovation
Hybrid Locomotion
Development of advanced control systems for robots combining wheeled and legged locomotion, enabling superior mobility across challenging terrains. See PhD Thesis.
Deep Reinforcement Learning
Application of DRL and hierarchical learning approaches for terrain adaptation, stepping locomotion, and autonomous decision-making in complex environments.
Autonomous Operations
Development of autonomous systems for hazardous environments including decontamination, decommissioning, and space exploration applications.
Walking Excavators
Retrofitting and automation of walking excavator robots (ARTER) for remote and autonomous soil sampling, construction, and decontamination tasks.
Featured Robot Platforms
Key robotic systems developed and enhanced
ARTER
Walking Excavator Robot
Autonomous Rough Terrain Excavator Robot for remote operations in hazardous environments. Features deep RL terrain adaptation and behavior tree-based process control.
SherpaTT
Wheeled-Leg Rover
Hybrid wheeled-leg planetary rover with 20 active DoF suspension system. Tested in Mars-analog environments with active terrain adaptation and force distribution control.
Asguard
Rimless Wheel Rover
Leg-wheel hybrid robot with five-spoke wheel design. Demonstrated exceptional mobility including stair climbing, water traversal, and high-speed rough terrain locomotion.