Professor Ames' research centers on the nonlinear control of dynamic robotic system, with an emphasis on bipedal robotic walking and legged locomotion—both formally and through experimental validation. His lab designs, builds and tests novel bipedal robots, humanoids and prostheses with the goal of achieving human-like bipedal robotic locomotion and translating these capabilities to robotic assistive devices. The application of these ideas range from improving the locomotion capabilities of the mobility impaired to increasing autonomy on legged robots. The goal is to develop the underlying theory, as realized on hardware, that will allow robots to operate among us in our daily lives and explore environments not currently accessible to humans including Mars and beyond.