Miomir Vukobratović

Timeline

1. 1931–1964

   Flutter analysis in Belgrade

   Born in 1931 in Botoš, near Zrenjanin, he earns a BSc in mechanical engineering at the University of Belgrade in 1957. In January 1958, he joins the Aeronautical Institute in Belgrade as a stress and flutter analyst, and his first PhD at Belgrade follows in 1964 with a dissertation on nonlinear flutter.

2. 1965–1972

   Heading the Pupin robotics lab

   In 1965, he becomes head of the Robotics Laboratory at the Mihajlo Pupin Institute in Belgrade. His monograph General sensitivity theory, written with R. Tomović, appears from Elsevier in 1971, and a second doctorate follows in 1972 at the Central Mechanical Engineering Institute of the Soviet Academy in Moscow.

3. 1968–1973

   The zero moment point

   With Davor Juričić, he introduces the zero moment point concept to the legged-locomotion community in January 1968 at a congress in Moscow. Between 1969 and 1973, the two use it to realize artificial humanoid gait with dynamic equilibrium and a stable regime. The concept remains a cornerstone of stable locomotion in humanoid robots worldwide.

4. 1971–1982

   Exoskeleton and arm orthosis

   In 1971–1972, an artificial exoskeleton for restoring basic locomotor activity of severely handicapped people is designed and equipped at the Pupin Institute, based on his idea and under his guidance. An active arm orthosis for advanced cases of dystrophy, built under his lead, is applied in Yugoslavia and abroad in 1982.

5. 1978–1990

   Industrial robots and monographs

   Under his guidance, the first domestic anthropomorphic industrial robot is built in 1978. In 1979, he and coauthor D. Stokić receive a prize of the City of Belgrade for the monograph Dynamic Control of Manipulators. From 1982 to 1990, he and his coauthors publish the seven-volume series Scientific Fundamentals of Robotics with Springer-Verlag.

6. 1994

   Serbian Academy membership

   He is elected a full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Department of Technical Sciences, in 1994, having been a corresponding member since 1981. The Saint Sava Medal of the First Order also comes in 1994, for his results in rehabilitation robotics.

7. 1996

   The Engelberger Award

   In 1996, he receives the Joseph Engelberger Award from the Robotic Industries Association in the USA, honoring results in applied research and education in robotics. Moscow State Lomonosov University confers an honorary doctorate on him in 1996.

8. 2012

   Death in Belgrade

   He dies in Belgrade in March 2012. In the history of the Mihajlo Pupin Institute, he remains the only academician to emerge from its ranks.