Publications

You can also find my articles on my Google Scholar profile.

Journal Articles

Towards bridging the gap: Systematic sim-to-real transfer for diverse legged robots

Published in TBA, 2025

A unified framework for systematic sim-to-real transfer across diverse legged robots, combining data-driven system identification with evolutionary optimization to achieve robust and reproducible real-world locomotion performance.

Recommended citation: F. Bjelonic, F. Tischhauser, and M. Hutter, “Towards Bridging the Gap: Systematic Sim-to-Real Transfer for Diverse Legged Robots,” arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.06342, 2025.
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Learning-based design and control for quadrupedal robots with parallel-elastic actuators

Published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2023

This work presents a learning-based co-design approach that jointly optimizes compliant actuation and control policies, demonstrating improved energy efficiency and robust performance in quadrupedal robots equipped with parallel-elastic actuators.

Recommended citation: F. Bjelonic, J. Lee, P. Arm, D. Sako, D. Tateo, J. Peters, and M. Hutter, “Learning-based design and control for quadrupedal robots with parallel-elastic actuators,” IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 1611–1618, 2023.
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Experimental closed-loop excitation of nonlinear normal modes on an elastic industrial robot

Published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2022

An experimental method for exciting and analyzing nonlinear normal modes in elastic industrial manipulators, enabling precise characterization of nonlinear oscialltory behavior and closed-loop control strategies.

Recommended citation: F. Bjelonic, A. Sachtler, A. Albu-Schäffer, and C. Della Santina, “Experimental closed-loop excitation of nonlinear normal modes on an elastic industrial robot,” IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 1689–1696, 2022.
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Conference Papers

Learning quiet walking for a small home robot

Published in IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2025

This paper introduces a reinforcement learning approach for generating quiet and stable walking behaviors in small home robots, focusing on minimizing acoustic emissions while preserving locomotion robustness and natural motion.

Recommended citation: R. Watanabe, T. Miki, F. Shi, Y. Kadokawa, F. Bjelonic, K. Kawaharazuka, A. Cramariuc, and M. Hutter, “Learning Quiet Walking for a Small Home Robot,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2025.
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Marladona-towards cooperative team play using multi-agent reinforcement learning

Published in IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2025

A multi-agent reinforcement learning framework for cooperative robotic team play, enabling coordinated behaviors and strategic interaction through decentralized policies and shared objectives.

Recommended citation: Z. Li, F. Bjelonic, V. Klemm, and M. Hutter, “Marladona – Towards cooperative team play using multi-agent reinforcement learning,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 15014–15020, 2025.
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Datasets

PACE dataset for sim-to-real transfer in legged robots