PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Robert D. Gregg

Robert D. Gregg is a professor of robotics whose work applies gait biomechanics and robot control to powered prostheses and orthoses. He earned engineering degrees at Berkeley and Illinois, studied robotic-assisted walking at Northwestern, and joined UT Dallas in 2013. His research includes a clinical tuning framework for a powered knee-ankle prosthesis and a 2026 quasi-direct-drive knee prosthesis. As of October 2026, he is a professor of robotics at the University of Michigan and directs the Locomotor Control Systems Laboratory.

Works
188
Citations
4,464
h-index
37

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2006–2010

    Engineering degrees

    He earns a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from UC Berkeley in 2006, an MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois in 2007, and a PhD there in 2010.

  2. 2012

    Robotic walking at Northwestern

    At Northwestern, he studies robotic-assisted walking as a postdoctoral fellow and receives the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface in 2012. He translates control principles from robotic walking into methods for powered prosthetic-leg design.

  3. June 2013

    Joining UT Dallas

    He joins UT Dallas in June 2013 as an assistant professor in bioengineering and mechanical engineering, after a Northwestern postdoctoral fellowship and work as a research scientist at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. At the Institute, he continues postdoctoral training in prosthetics and neuromechanics with Todd Kuiken and Jon Sensinger until 2013.

  4. 2017

    An NSF CAREER award

    In 2017, he receives a five-year, $500,000 NSF CAREER award to broaden activities available to users of powered lower-body prostheses and orthoses. Its education plan spans K–12 outreach through prosthetics medical training.

  5. 2025

    Tuning a knee-ankle prosthesis

    In 2025, he coauthors a clinical tuning framework that personalizes a powered knee-ankle prosthesis for variable-incline walking and sit-stand transitions. Its interface lets prosthetists adjust controller behavior.

  6. 2025

    An IEEE paper award

    He receives the 2025 Outstanding Paper Award from IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology.

  7. 2026

    A powered knee prosthesis

    In 2026, he coauthors the design and validation of a lightweight, low-profile powered knee prosthesis with quasi-direct-drive actuation. The paper reports a mass of 2.6 kg and peak torque of 145 Nm.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor and lab director

    As of October 2026, he is a professor of robotics at the University of Michigan and directs the Locomotor Control Systems Laboratory. His group establishes phase-based control for powered prosthetic legs and task-agnostic control for lower-limb exoskeletons, both used by research groups beyond Michigan.

Career

  1. Since 2019University of MichiganProfessor of Robotics
  2. Until 2013Rehabilitation Institute of ChicagoResearch Scientist
  3. 2013–2019University of Texas at DallasAssistant Professor
  4. 2011–2013Northwestern UniversityPostdoctoral Fellow

Education

  1. 2010University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignPhD
  2. 2007University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignMS
  3. 2006University of California, BerkeleyBS

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Continuous-Phase Control of a Powered Knee–Ankle Prosthesis: Amputee Experiments Across Speeds and Inclines2018 · IEEE Transactions on Robotics · 253 citations
  2. Virtual Constraint Control of a Powered Prosthetic Leg: From Simulation to Experiments With Transfemoral Amputees2014 · IEEE Transactions on Robotics · 218 citations
  3. Lower-limb kinematics and kinetics during continuously varying human locomotion2021 · 143 citations
  4. The Difference Between Stiffness and Quasi-Stiffness in the Context of Biomechanical Modeling2012 · IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering · 138 citationsWith Elliott J. Rouse
  5. A Robust Parameterization of Human Gait Patterns Across Phase-Shifting Perturbations2016 · IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering · 123 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Robert D. Gregg. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. Universities had a net outflow of 2,068 moves in AI careersIncludes University of Michigan. Our estimates of career flows and median h-index across universities and companies in AI, including the role of joint appointments and earlier academic jobs.
  3. Universities keep AI researchers for a median of 6 years, compared with 2 years at frontier labsIncludes University of Michigan. Across 15,811 dated work stays (6,529 people), median role tenure runs from 6 years at universities to 2 years at frontier labs. We compare all five organization types, starting decades from the 1970s to the 2020s, and the organizations that keep people longest.
  4. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Michigan. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Robert D. Gregg yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Robert, gregg - Electrical & Computer Engineering | The University of Texas at Dallas ece.utdallas.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Northwestern Postdoctoral Fellow Wins $500,000 Career Award mccormick.northwestern.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Jonsson School Professor Earns NSF Grant for Prosthetics Innovation news.utdallas.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Publications | Kevin Best tkevinbest.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. A Clinical Tuning Framework for Continuous Kinematic and Impedance Control of a Powered Knee-Ankle Prosthesis arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Robert Gregg | Robotics Faculty Profile robotics.umich.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Design and Validation of a Lightweight, Low-Profile Powered Knee Prosthesis with Quasi-Direct Drive Actuation arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Team | Locomotor Control Systems Laboratory locolab.robotics.umich.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.