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Locomotion Adaptation in Heavy Payload Transportation Tasks with the Quadruped Robot CENTAURO | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561720/ | [
"Xinyuan Zhao",
"Yangwei You",
"Arturo Laurenzi",
"Navvab Kashiri",
"Nikos Tsagarakis",
"Xinyuan Zhao",
"Yangwei You",
"Arturo Laurenzi",
"Navvab Kashiri",
"Nikos Tsagarakis"
] | This paper presents a reactive legged locomotion generation scheme that enables our quadruped robot CEN-TAURO to adapt to varying payloads while walking. The center-of-mass (CoM) trajectories are generated in real time in a model predictive control (MPC) fashion, trading off large stability margins against evenly stretched legs. Vertex-based zero-moment-point (ZMP) constraints are imposed to ensur... |
Efficient Self-Supervised Data Collection for Offline Robot Learning | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561097/ | [
"Shadi Endrawis",
"Gal Leibovich",
"Guy Jacob",
"Gal Novik",
"Aviv Tamar",
"Shadi Endrawis",
"Gal Leibovich",
"Guy Jacob",
"Gal Novik",
"Aviv Tamar"
] | A practical approach to robot reinforcement learning is to first collect a large batch of real or simulated robot interaction data, using some data collection policy, and then learn from this data to perform various tasks, using offline learning algorithms. Previous work focused on manually designing the data collection policy, and on tasks where suitable policies can easily be designed, such as r... |
Active Inference for Integrated State-Estimation, Control, and Learning | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9562009/ | [
"Mohamed Baioumy",
"Paul Duckworth",
"Bruno Lacerda",
"Nick Hawes",
"Mohamed Baioumy",
"Paul Duckworth",
"Bruno Lacerda",
"Nick Hawes"
] | This work presents an approach for control, state-estimation and learning model (hyper)parameters for robotic manipulators. It is based on the active inference framework, prominent in computational neuroscience as a theory of the brain, where behaviour arises from minimizing variational free-energy. First, we show there is a direct relationship between active inference controllers, and classic met... |
Robot Program Parameter Inference via Differentiable Shadow Program Inversion | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561206/ | [
"Benjamin Alt",
"Darko Katic",
"Rainer Jäkel",
"Asil Kaan Bozcuoglu",
"Michael Beetz",
"Benjamin Alt",
"Darko Katic",
"Rainer Jäkel",
"Asil Kaan Bozcuoglu",
"Michael Beetz"
] | Challenging manipulation tasks can be solved effectively by combining individual robot skills, which must be parameterized for the concrete physical environment and task at hand. This is time-consuming and difficult for human programmers, particularly for force-controlled skills. To this end, we present Shadow Program Inversion (SPI), a novel approach to infer optimal skill parameters directly fro... |
A Fully Spiking Neural Control System Based on Cerebellar Predictive Learning for Sensor-Guided Robots | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561127/ | [
"Omar Zahra",
"David Navarro-Alarcon",
"Silvia Tolu",
"Omar Zahra",
"David Navarro-Alarcon",
"Silvia Tolu"
] | The cerebellum plays a distinctive role within our motor control system to achieve fine and coordinated motions. While cerebellar lesions do not lead to a complete loss of motor functions, both action and perception are severally impacted. Hence, it is assumed that the cerebellum uses an internal forward model to provide anticipatory signals by learning from the error in sensory states. In some st... |
Learning to steer a locomotion contact planner | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561160/ | [
"Jason Chemin",
"Pierre Fernbach",
"Daeun Song",
"Guilhem Saurel",
"Nicolas Mansard",
"Steve Tonneau",
"Jason Chemin",
"Pierre Fernbach",
"Daeun Song",
"Guilhem Saurel",
"Nicolas Mansard",
"Steve Tonneau"
] | The combinatorics inherent to the issue of planning legged locomotion can be addressed by decomposing the problem: first, select a guide path abstracting the contacts with a heuristic model; then compute the contact sequence to balance the robot gait along the guide path. While several models have been proposed to compute such a path, none have yet managed to efficiently capture the complexity of ... |
Learning Shape Control of Elastoplastic Deformable Linear Objects | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561984/ | [
"Rita Laezza",
"Yiannis Karayiannidis",
"Rita Laezza",
"Yiannis Karayiannidis"
] | Deformable object manipulation tasks have long been regarded as challenging robotic problems. However, until recently very little work has been done on the subject, with most robotic manipulation methods being developed for rigid objects. Deformable objects are more difficult to model and simulate, which has limited the use of model-free Reinforcement Learning (RL) strategies, due to their need fo... |
Precise Jump Planning using Centroidal Dynamics based Bilevel Optimization | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561101/ | [
"Ivo Vatavuk",
"Zdenko Kovačić",
"Ivo Vatavuk",
"Zdenko Kovačić"
] | This paper deals with a problem of precise jumping for legged robots: what are the control inputs required to perform a jump that results in a desired landing point? We propose a novel precise jump planning method, formulated as a bilevel optimization problem. The presented formulation exploits certain insights into the jump dynamics, leading to a low-dimensional optimization problem, and allowing... |
DeepWalk: Omnidirectional Bipedal Gait by Deep Reinforcement Learning | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561717/ | [
"Diego Rodriguez",
"Sven Behnke",
"Diego Rodriguez",
"Sven Behnke"
] | Bipedal walking is one of the most difficult but exciting challenges in robotics. The difficulties arise from the complexity of high-dimensional dynamics, sensing and actuation limitations combined with real-time and computational constraints. Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) holds the promise to address these issues by fully exploiting the robot dynamics with minimal craftsmanship. In this paper... |
ULT-model: Towards a one-legged unified locomotion template model for forward hopping with an upright trunk | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560780/ | [
"Dennis Ossadnik",
"Elisabeth Jensen",
"Sami Haddadin",
"Dennis Ossadnik",
"Elisabeth Jensen",
"Sami Haddadin"
] | While many advancements have been made in the development of template models for describing upright-trunk locomotion, the majority of the effort has been focused on the stance phase. In this paper, we develop a new compact dynamic model as a first step toward a fully unified locomotion template model (ULT-model) of an upright-trunk forward hopping system, which will also require a unified control ... |
Nonlinear stiffness allows passive dynamic hopping for one-legged robots with an upright trunk | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561568/ | [
"Dennis Ossadnik",
"Elisabeth Jensen",
"Sami Haddadin",
"Dennis Ossadnik",
"Elisabeth Jensen",
"Sami Haddadin"
] | Template models are frequently used to simplify the control dynamics for robot hopping or running. Passive limit cycles can emerge for such systems and be exploited for energy-efficient control. A grand challenge in locomotion is trunk stabilization when the hip is offset from the center of mass (CoM). The swing phase plays a major role in this process due to the moment of inertia of the leg; howe... |
Task Planning with a Weighted Functional Object-Oriented Network | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561680/ | [
"David Paulius",
"Kelvin Sheng Pei Dong",
"Yu Sun",
"David Paulius",
"Kelvin Sheng Pei Dong",
"Yu Sun"
] | In reality, there is still much to be done for robots to be able to perform manipulation actions with full autonomy. Complicated manipulation tasks, such as cooking, may still require a person to perform some actions that are very risky for a robot to perform. On the other hand, some other actions may be very risky for a human with physical disabilities to perform. Therefore, it is necessary to ba... |
Towards providing explanations for robot motion planning | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9562003/ | [
"Martim Brandão",
"Gerard Canal",
"Senka Krivić",
"Daniele Magazzeni",
"Martim Brandão",
"Gerard Canal",
"Senka Krivić",
"Daniele Magazzeni"
] | Recent research in AI ethics has put forth explainability as an essential principle for AI algorithms. However, it is still unclear how this is to be implemented in practice for specific classes of algorithms—such as motion planners. In this paper we unpack the concept of explanation in the context of motion planning, introducing a new taxonomy of kinds and purposes of explanations in this context... |
Engagement Estimation During Child Robot Interaction Using Deep Convolutional Networks Focusing on ASD Children | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561687/ | [
"Dafni Anagnostopoulou",
"Niki Efthymiou",
"Christina Papailiou",
"Petros Maragos",
"Dafni Anagnostopoulou",
"Niki Efthymiou",
"Christina Papailiou",
"Petros Maragos"
] | Estimating the engagement of children is an essential prerequisite for constructing natural Child-Robot Interaction. Especially in the case of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, monitoring the engagement of the other party allows robots to adjust their actions according to the educational and therapeutic goals in hand. In this work we delve into engagement estimation with a focus on children ... |
Ergodic imitation: Learning from what to do and what not to do | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561746/ | [
"Aleksandra Kalinowska",
"Ahalya Prabhakar",
"Kathleen Fitzsimons",
"Todd Murphey",
"Aleksandra Kalinowska",
"Ahalya Prabhakar",
"Kathleen Fitzsimons",
"Todd Murphey"
] | With growing access to versatile robotics, it is beneficial for end users to be able to teach robots tasks without needing to code a control policy. One possibility is to teach the robot through successful task executions. However, near-optimal demonstrations of a task can be difficult to provide and even successful demonstrations can fail to capture task aspects key to robust skill replication. H... |
Imitation Learning with Inconsistent Demonstrations through Uncertainty-based Data Manipulation | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561686/ | [
"Peter Valletta",
"Rodrigo Pérez-Dattari",
"Jens Kober",
"Peter Valletta",
"Rodrigo Pérez-Dattari",
"Jens Kober"
] | Aleatoric uncertainty estimation, based on the observed training data, is applied for the detection of conflicts in a demonstration data set. The particular focus of this paper is the resolution of conflicting data resulting from scenarios with equivalent action choices, such as obstacle avoidance, path planning or multiple joint configurations. In terms of the estimated uncertainty, the proposed ... |
Learning Motor Resonance in Human-Human and Human-Robot Interaction with Coupled Dynamical Systems | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561378/ | [
"Nuno Ferreira Duarte",
"Mirko Raković",
"José Santos-Victor",
"Nuno Ferreira Duarte",
"Mirko Raković",
"José Santos-Victor"
] | Human interaction involves very sophisticated non-verbal communication skills like understanding the goals and actions of others and coordinating our own actions accordingly. Neuroscience refers to this mechanism as motor resonance, in the sense that the perception of another persons actions and sensory experiences activates the observer’s brain as if (s)he would be performing the same actions and... |
Interpreting Contact Interactions to Overcome Failure in Robot Assembly Tasks | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560825/ | [
"Peter A. Zachares",
"Michelle A. Lee",
"Wenzhao Lian",
"Jeannette Bohg",
"Peter A. Zachares",
"Michelle A. Lee",
"Wenzhao Lian",
"Jeannette Bohg"
] | A key challenge towards autonomous multi-part object assembly is robust sensorimotor control under uncertainty. In contrast to previous works that rely on a priori knowledge on whether two parts match, we aim to learn this through physical interaction. We propose a hierarchical approach that enables a robot to autonomously assemble parts while being uncertain about part types and positions. In par... |
Real-time Surgical Environment Enhancement for Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery Based on Super-Resolution | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561393/ | [
"Ruoxi Wang",
"Dandan Zhang",
"Qingbiao Li",
"Xiao-Yun Zhou",
"Benny Lo",
"Ruoxi Wang",
"Dandan Zhang",
"Qingbiao Li",
"Xiao-Yun Zhou",
"Benny Lo"
] | In Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery (RAMIS), a camera assistant is normally required to control the position and the zooming ratio of the laparoscope, following the surgeon’s instructions. However, moving the laparoscope frequently may lead to unstable and suboptimal views, while the adjustment of zooming ratio may interrupt the workflow of the surgical operation. To this end, we propose ... |
Composing HARMONI: An Open-source Tool for Human and Robot Modular OpeN Interaction | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560992/ | [
"Micol Spitale",
"Chris Birmingham",
"R. Michael Swan",
"Maja J Matarić",
"Micol Spitale",
"Chris Birmingham",
"R. Michael Swan",
"Maja J Matarić"
] | The research and development of socially interactive robots is a complex challenge because of the wide variety of capabilities needed for effective social human-robot interactions (HRI). Many of these capabilities, including perception, dialog, and control, have state of the art methods and solutions, but combining those into a comprehensive and seamless interaction is still an open challenge. We ... |
Robot Interaction Studio: A Platform for Unsupervised HRI | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561292/ | [
"Mayumi Mohan",
"Cara M. Nunez",
"Katherine J. Kuchenbecker",
"Mayumi Mohan",
"Cara M. Nunez",
"Katherine J. Kuchenbecker"
] | Robots hold great potential for supporting exercise and physical therapy, but such systems are often cumbersome to set up and require expert supervision. We aim to solve these concerns by combining Captury Live, a real-time markerless motion-capture system, with a Rethink Robotics Baxter Research Robot to create the Robot Interaction Studio. We evaluated this platform for unsupervised human-robot ... |
Which gesture generator performs better? | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561075/ | [
"Unai Zabala",
"Igor Rodriguez",
"José María Martínez-Otzeta",
"Itziar Irigoien",
"Elena Lazkano",
"Unai Zabala",
"Igor Rodriguez",
"José María Martínez-Otzeta",
"Itziar Irigoien",
"Elena Lazkano"
] | Talking gestures are a fundamental part of body language and, therefore, are also important for social robots. Gesture generation by generative approaches is supposed to produce a more appropriate behavior than rule-based approaches. Usually, the evaluation of generated gestures is carried out by subjective visual evaluation, which could be cultural dependent and influenced by external factors. In... |
Robot-supervised Learning of Crop Row Segmentation | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560815/ | [
"Marianne Bakken",
"Vignesh Raja Ponnambalam",
"Richard J. D. Moore",
"Jon Glenn Omholt Gjevestad",
"Pål Johan From",
"Marianne Bakken",
"Vignesh Raja Ponnambalam",
"Richard J. D. Moore",
"Jon Glenn Omholt Gjevestad",
"Pål Johan From"
] | We propose an approach for robot-supervised learning that automates label generation for semantic segmentation with Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for crop row detection in a field. Using a training robot equipped with RTK GNSS and RGB camera, we train a neural network that can later be used for pure vision-based navigation. We test our approach on an agri-robot in a strawberry field and suc... |
Neural Network Controller for Autonomous Pile Loading Revised | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561804/ | [
"Wenyan Yang",
"Nataliya Strokina",
"Nikolay Serbenyuk",
"Joni Pajarinen",
"Reza Ghabcheloo",
"Juho Vihonen",
"Mohammad M. Aref",
"Joni-Kristian Kämäräinen",
"Wenyan Yang",
"Nataliya Strokina",
"Nikolay Serbenyuk",
"Joni Pajarinen",
"Reza Ghabcheloo",
"Juho Vihonen",
"Mohammad M. Aref",
"Joni-Kristian Kämäräinen"
] | We have recently proposed two pile loading controllers that learn from human demonstrations: a neural network (NNet) [1] and a random forest (RF) controller [2]. In the field experiments the RF controller obtained clearly better success rates. In this work, the previous findings are drastically revised by experimenting summer time trained controllers in winter conditions. The winter experiments re... |
Deep Reinforcement Learning for Concentric Tube Robot Control with a Goal-Based Curriculum | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561620/ | [
"Keshav Iyengar",
"Danail Stoyanov",
"Keshav Iyengar",
"Danail Stoyanov"
] | Concentric Tube Robots (CTRs), a type of continuum robot, are a collection of concentric, pre-curved tubes composed of super elastic nickel titanium alloy. CTRs can bend and twist from the interactions between neighboring tubes causing the kinematics and therefore control of the end-effector to be very challenging to model. In this paper, we develop a control scheme for a CTR end-effector in Carte... |
Optimized 3D path planner for steerable catheters with deductive reasoning | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561374/ | [
"Alice Segato",
"Valentina Corbetta",
"Jessica Zangari",
"Simona Perri",
"Francesco Calimeri",
"Elena De Momi",
"Alice Segato",
"Valentina Corbetta",
"Jessica Zangari",
"Simona Perri",
"Francesco Calimeri",
"Elena De Momi"
] | Keyhole neurosurgery is challenging, due to the complex anatomy of the brain and the inherent risk of damaging vital structures while reaching the surgical target. This paper presents a path planner for safe and effective neurosurgical interventions. The strengths of the proposed framework lay in the integration of multiple risk structures combined into a deductive method for fast and intuitive us... |
Robotic Electrospinning Actuated by Non-Circular Joint Continuum Manipulator for Endoluminal Therapy | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561600/ | [
"Zicong Wu",
"Chuqian Lou",
"Zhu Jin",
"Shaoping Huang",
"Ning Liu",
"Yun Zou",
"Mirko Kovac",
"Anzhu Gao",
"Guang-Zhong Yang",
"Zicong Wu",
"Chuqian Lou",
"Zhu Jin",
"Shaoping Huang",
"Ning Liu",
"Yun Zou",
"Mirko Kovac",
"Anzhu Gao",
"Guang-Zhong Yang"
] | Electrospinning has exhibited excellent benefits to treat the trauma for tissue engineering due to its produced micro/nano fibrous structure. It can effectively adhere to the tissue surface for long-term continuous therapy. This paper develops a robotic electrospinning platform for endoluminal therapy. The platform consists of a continuum manipulator, the electrospinning device, and the actuation ... |
Distributed Full-Consensus Control of Multi-Robot Systems with Range and Field-of-View Constraints | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561551/ | [
"Esteban Restrepo",
"Antonio Loría",
"Ioannis Sarras",
"Julien Marzat",
"Esteban Restrepo",
"Antonio Loría",
"Ioannis Sarras",
"Julien Marzat"
] | In this paper we solve the full-consensus problem for multiple nonholonomic vehicles interacting over a directed leader-follower topology and subject to sensing constraints in the form of limited range and limited field-of-view. Remarkably, based on a polar-coordinates model transformation, the designed controller is time-invariant and smooth (in the domain of definition). Moreover, the control la... |
Scalable Recursive Distributed Collaborative State Estimation for Aided Inertial Navigation | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561203/ | [
"Roland Jung",
"Stephan Weiss",
"Roland Jung",
"Stephan Weiss"
] | This paper presents a novel approach to recover outdated cross-covariance between correlated agents at the moment they perform joint observations. This allows to render Collaborative State Estimation (CSE) fully distributed, with communication only required for the moment of joint observation and most importantly, it significantly reduces the maintenance effort in case of high frequent propagation... |
Distributed Multi-Target Tracking in Camera Networks | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9562055/ | [
"Sara Casao",
"Abel Naya",
"Ana C. Murillo",
"Eduardo Montijano",
"Sara Casao",
"Abel Naya",
"Ana C. Murillo",
"Eduardo Montijano"
] | Most recent works on multi-target tracking with multiple cameras focus on centralized systems. In contrast, this paper presents a multi-target tracking approach implemented in a distributed camera network. The advantages of distributed systems lie in lighter communication management, greater robustness to failures and local decision making. On the other hand, data association and information fusio... |
GenGrid: A Generalised Distributed Experimental Environmental Grid for Swarm Robotics | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561654/ | [
"Pranav Kedia",
"Madhav Rao",
"Pranav Kedia",
"Madhav Rao"
] | GenGrid is a novel comprehensive open-source, distributed platform intended for conducting extensive swarm robotic experiments. The modular platform is designed to run swarm robotics experiments that are compatible with different types of mobile robots ranging from Colias, Kilobot, and E-puck [1]–[4]. The platform offers programmable control over the experimental setup and its parameters and acts ... |
Robot-Safe Impacts with Soft Contacts Based on Learned Deformations | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561678/ | [
"Niels Dehio",
"Abderrahmane Kheddar",
"Niels Dehio",
"Abderrahmane Kheddar"
] | Safely generating impacts with robots is challenging due to subsequent discontinuous velocity and high impact forces. We aim at increasing the impact velocity – the robot’s relative speed prior to contact – such that impact-tasks like grabbing and boxing are made with the highest allowable speed performance when needed. Previous works addressed this problem for rigid bodies’ impacts. This letter p... |
Contact Forces Preintegration for Estimation in Legged Robotics using Factor Graphs | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561037/ | [
"Médéric Fourmy",
"Thomas Flayols",
"Pierre-Alexandre Léziart",
"Nicolas Mansard",
"Joan Solà",
"Médéric Fourmy",
"Thomas Flayols",
"Pierre-Alexandre Léziart",
"Nicolas Mansard",
"Joan Solà"
] | State estimation, in particular estimation of the base position, orientation and velocity, plays a big role in the efficiency of legged robot stabilization. The estimation of the base state is particularly important because of its strong correlation with the underactuated dynamics, i.e. the evolution of center of mass and angular momentum. Yet this estimation is typically done in two phases, first... |
Amortized Q-learning with Model-based Action Proposals for Autonomous Driving on Highways | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560777/ | [
"Branka Mirchevska",
"Maria Hügle",
"Gabriel Kalweit",
"Moritz Werling",
"Joschka Boedecker",
"Branka Mirchevska",
"Maria Hügle",
"Gabriel Kalweit",
"Moritz Werling",
"Joschka Boedecker"
] | Well-established optimization-based methods can guarantee an optimal trajectory for a short optimization horizon, typically no longer than a few seconds. As a result, choosing the optimal trajectory for this short horizon may still result in a sub-optimal long-term solution. At the same time, the resulting short-term trajectories allow for effective, comfortable and provable safe maneuvers in a dy... |
Decision Making for Autonomous Driving via Augmented Adversarial Inverse Reinforcement Learning | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560907/ | [
"Pin Wang",
"Dapeng Liu",
"Jiayu Chen",
"Hanhan Li",
"Ching-Yao Chan",
"Pin Wang",
"Dapeng Liu",
"Jiayu Chen",
"Hanhan Li",
"Ching-Yao Chan"
] | Making decisions in complex driving environments is a challenging task for autonomous agents. Imitation learning methods have great potentials for achieving such a goal. Adversarial Inverse Reinforcement Learning (AIRL) is one of the state-of-art imitation learning methods that can learn both a behavioral policy and a reward function simultaneously, yet it is only demonstrated in simple and static... |
Interpretable Goal-based Prediction and Planning for Autonomous Driving | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560849/ | [
"Stefano V. Albrecht",
"Cillian Brewitt",
"John Wilhelm",
"Balint Gyevnar",
"Francisco Eiras",
"Mihai Dobre",
"Subramanian Ramamoorthy",
"Stefano V. Albrecht",
"Cillian Brewitt",
"John Wilhelm",
"Balint Gyevnar",
"Francisco Eiras",
"Mihai Dobre",
"Subramanian Ramamoorthy"
] | We propose an integrated prediction and planning system for autonomous driving which uses rational inverse planning to recognise the goals of other vehicles. Goal recognition informs a Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) algorithm to plan optimal maneuvers for the ego vehicle. Inverse planning and MCTS utilise a shared set of defined maneuvers and macro actions to construct plans which are explainable ... |
Encoding Human Driving Styles in Motion Planning for Autonomous Vehicles | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561777/ | [
"Jesper Karlsson",
"Sanne van Waveren",
"Christian Pek",
"Ilaria Torre",
"Iolanda Leite",
"Jana Tumova",
"Jesper Karlsson",
"Sanne van Waveren",
"Christian Pek",
"Ilaria Torre",
"Iolanda Leite",
"Jana Tumova"
] | Driving styles play a major role in the acceptance and use of autonomous vehicles. Yet, existing motion planning techniques can often only incorporate simple driving styles that are modeled by the developers of the planner and not tailored to the passenger. We present a new approach to encode human driving styles through the use of signal temporal logic and its robustness metrics. Specifically, we... |
Spherical Multi-Modal Place Recognition for Heterogeneous Sensor Systems | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561078/ | [
"Lukas Bernreiter",
"Lionel Ott",
"Juan Nieto",
"Roland Siegwart",
"Cesar Cadena",
"Lukas Bernreiter",
"Lionel Ott",
"Juan Nieto",
"Roland Siegwart",
"Cesar Cadena"
] | In this paper, we propose a robust end-to-end multi-modal pipeline for place recognition where the sensor systems can differ from the map building to the query. Our approach operates directly on images and LiDAR scans without requiring any local feature extraction modules. By projecting the sensor data onto the unit sphere, we learn a multi-modal descriptor of partially overlapping scenes using a ... |
A Direct Collocation method for optimization of EMG-driven wrist muscle musculoskeletal model | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561424/ | [
"Yihui Zhao",
"Zhenhong Li",
"Zhiqiang Zhang",
"Ahmed Asker",
"Sheng Q. Xie",
"Yihui Zhao",
"Zhenhong Li",
"Zhiqiang Zhang",
"Ahmed Asker",
"Sheng Q. Xie"
] | EMG-driven musculoskeletal model has been broadly used to detect human intention in rehabilitation robots. This approach computes muscle-tendon force and translates it to the joint kinematics. However, the muscle-tendon parameters of the musculoskeletal model are difficult to measure in vivo and varied across subjects. In this study, a direct collocation (DC) method is proposed to optimize the sub... |
Practical and Accurate Generation of Energy-Optimal Trajectories for a Planar Quadrotor | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561395/ | [
"Fabio Morbidi",
"Dominik Pisarski",
"Fabio Morbidi",
"Dominik Pisarski"
] | Motivated by the limited flight time of batterypowered multi-rotor UAVs, in this paper we address the problem of generating energy-optimal trajectories for a planar quadrotor. More specifically, by considering an accurate electrical model for the brushless DC motors and rest-to-rest maneuvers between two predefined boundary states, we explicitly compute the minimum-energy curves by adopting a free... |
Optimization-based Trajectory Planning for Tethered Aerial Robots | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561062/ | [
"S. Martínez-Rozas",
"D. Alejo",
"F. Caballero",
"L. Merino",
"S. Martínez-Rozas",
"D. Alejo",
"F. Caballero",
"L. Merino"
] | This paper presents a non-linear optimization method for trajectory planning of tethered aerial robots. Particularly, the paper addresses the planning problem of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) linked to an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) by means of a tether. The result is a collision-free trajectory for UAV and tether, assuming the UGV position is static. The optimizer takes into account constrai... |
Grasp Analysis and Manipulation Kinematics for Isoperimetric Truss Robots | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561332/ | [
"Zachary M. Hammond",
"Nathan S. Usevitch",
"Sean Follmer",
"Zachary M. Hammond",
"Nathan S. Usevitch",
"Sean Follmer"
] | Soft isoperimetric truss robots have demonstrated an ability to grasp and manipulate objects using the members of their structure. The compliance of the members affords large contact areas with even force distribution, allowing for successful grasping even with imprecise open-loop control. In this work we present methods of analyzing and controlling isoperimetric truss robots in the context of gra... |
Improving Grasp Classification through Spatial Metrics Available from Sensors | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561750/ | [
"Nigel Swenson",
"Garrett Scott",
"Peter Bloch",
"Paresh Soni",
"Nuha Nishat",
"Anjali Asar",
"Cindy Grimm",
"Xiaoli Fern",
"Ravi Balasubramanian",
"Nigel Swenson",
"Garrett Scott",
"Peter Bloch",
"Paresh Soni",
"Nuha Nishat",
"Anjali Asar",
"Cindy Grimm",
"Xiaoli Fern",
"Ravi Balasubramanian"
] | We present a method for classifying the quality of near-contact grasps using spatial metrics that are recoverable from sensor data. Current methods often rely on calculating precise contact points, which are difficult to calculate in real life, or on tactile sensors or image data, which may be unavailable for some applications. Our method, in contrast, uses a mix of spatial metrics that do not dep... |
Assistive supernumerary grasping with the back of the hand | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560949/ | [
"Jungpyo Lee",
"Licheng Yu",
"Lucie Derbier",
"Hannah S. Stuart",
"Jungpyo Lee",
"Licheng Yu",
"Lucie Derbier",
"Hannah S. Stuart"
] | The Dorsal Grasper, an assistive wearable grasping device, incorporates supernumerary fingers and an artificial palm with the forearm and back of the hand, respectively. It enables power wrap grasping and adduction pinching with its V-shaped soft fingers. Designed with C6/C7 spinal cord injury in mind, it takes advantage of active wrist extension that remains in this population after injury. We pr... |
MCMC Occupancy Grid Mapping with a Data-Driven Patch Prior | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560763/ | [
"Rehman S. Merali",
"Timothy D. Barfoot",
"Rehman S. Merali",
"Timothy D. Barfoot"
] | Occupancy grids have been widely used for mapping with mobile robots for several decades. Occupancy grids discretize the analog environment and seek to determine the occupancy probability of each cell. More recent occupancy grid mapping algorithms have shown the advantage of capturing cell correlations in the measurement model and the posterior. By estimating the probability of a given map as oppo... |
Shape-Based Transfer of Generic Skills | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560894/ | [
"Skye Thompson",
"Leslie Pack Kaelbling",
"Tomas Lozano-Perez",
"Skye Thompson",
"Leslie Pack Kaelbling",
"Tomas Lozano-Perez"
] | We propose a new, data-efficient approach for skill transfer to novel objects, accounting for known categorical shape variation. A low-dimensional shape representation embedding is learned from a set of deformations, sampled between known objects within a category. This latent representation is mapped to a set of control parameters that result in successful execution of a category-level skill on t... |
Safety Uncertainty in Control Barrier Functions using Gaussian Processes | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561504/ | [
"Mouhyemen Khan",
"Tatsuya Ibuki",
"Abhijit Chatterjee",
"Mouhyemen Khan",
"Tatsuya Ibuki",
"Abhijit Chatterjee"
] | For a dynamical system, safety is typically guaranteed by constraining the system states within a set defined a priori. A popular approach is to use control barrier functions (CBFs) that encode safety using a smooth function. However, typical constructions of the smooth function do not account for any notion of safety uncertainty for the system inside the safe set. Although, one can formulate unce... |
Object Rearrangement Using Learned Implicit Collision Functions | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561516/ | [
"Michael Danielczuk",
"Arsalan Mousavian",
"Clemens Eppner",
"Dieter Fox",
"Michael Danielczuk",
"Arsalan Mousavian",
"Clemens Eppner",
"Dieter Fox"
] | Robotic object rearrangement combines the skills of picking and placing objects. When object models are unavailable, typical collision-checking models may be unable to predict collisions in partial point clouds with occlusions, making generation of collision-free grasping or placement trajectories challenging. We propose a learned collision model that accepts scene and query object point clouds an... |
Visual-Laser-Inertial SLAM Using a Compact 3D Scanner for Confined Space | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561860/ | [
"Daqian Cheng",
"Haowen Shi",
"Albert Xu",
"Michael Schwerin",
"Michelle Crivella",
"Lu Li",
"Howie Choset",
"Daqian Cheng",
"Haowen Shi",
"Albert Xu",
"Michael Schwerin",
"Michelle Crivella",
"Lu Li",
"Howie Choset"
] | Three-dimensional reconstruction in confined spaces is important for the manufacturing of aircraft wings, inspection of narrow pipes, examination of turbine blades, etc. It is also challenging because confined spaces tend to lack a positioning infrastructure, and conventional sensors often cannot detect objects in close range. Therefore, such tasks require a sensor that is compact, operates in sho... |
Efficient Multi-sensor Aided Inertial Navigation with Online Calibration | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561254/ | [
"Woosik Lee",
"Yulin Yang",
"Guoquan Huang",
"Woosik Lee",
"Yulin Yang",
"Guoquan Huang"
] | In this paper, we design a versatile multi-sensor aided inertial navigation system (MINS) that can efficiently fuse multi-modal measurements of IMU, camera, wheel encoder, GPS, and 3D LiDAR along with online spatiotemporal sensor calibration. Building upon our prior work [1] –[3], in this work we primarily focus on efficient LiDAR integration in a sliding-window filtering fashion. As each 3D LiDAR... |
Robust Monocular Visual-Inertial Depth Completion for Embedded Systems | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561174/ | [
"Nathaniel Merrill",
"Patrick Geneva",
"Guoquan Huang",
"Nathaniel Merrill",
"Patrick Geneva",
"Guoquan Huang"
] | In this work we augment our prior state-of-the-art visual-inertial odometry (VIO) system, OpenVINS [1], to produce accurate dense depth by filling in sparse depth estimates (depth completion) from VIO with image guidance – all while focusing on enabling real-time performance of the full VIO+depth system on embedded devices. We show that noisy depth values with varying sparsity produced from a VIO ... |
Simultaneous Estimation and Modeling of Robotic Systems with Non-Gaussian State Belief | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561422/ | [
"J. Josiah Steckenrider",
"J. Josiah Steckenrider"
] | This paper develops a probabilistic simultaneous estimation and modeling (SEAM) framework for estimating a robot’s state and correcting its motion model parameters. This is done by incorporating model uncertainty in state prediction and correcting parameters via optimization. In the proposed technique, belief about a state being estimated is represented by arbitrary multi-dimensional non-Gaussian ... |
Efficient Online Calibration for Autonomous Vehicle’s Longitudinal Dynamical System: A Gaussian Model Approach | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560912/ | [
"Shihao Wang",
"Canqiang Deng",
"Qingjie Qi",
"Shihao Wang",
"Canqiang Deng",
"Qingjie Qi"
] | In this paper, we present an efficient online calibration system for longitudinal vehicle dynamics of driverless cars. Instead of modeling vehicle’s longitudinal dynamical system analytically, we employ a data-driven method to generate an "end-to-end" numerical model with a look-up table which saves vehicle’s velocity, control command, and acceleration. This reference table should be calibrated to... |
Fuzzing Mobile Robot Environments for Fast Automated Crash Detection | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561627/ | [
"Trey Woodlief",
"Sebastian Elbaum",
"Kevin Sullivan",
"Trey Woodlief",
"Sebastian Elbaum",
"Kevin Sullivan"
] | Testing mobile robots is difficult and expensive, and many faults go undetected. In this work we explore whether fuzzing, an automated test input generation technique, can more quickly find failure inducing inputs in mobile robots. We developed a simple fuzzing adaptation, BASE-FUZZ, and one specialized for fuzzing mobile robots, PHYS-FUZZ. PHYS-FUZZ is unique in that it accounts for physical attr... |
Optimal Estimation of the Centroidal Dynamics of Legged Robots | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561993/ | [
"François Bailly",
"Justin Carpentier",
"Philippe Souères",
"François Bailly",
"Justin Carpentier",
"Philippe Souères"
] | Estimating the centroidal dynamics of legged robots is crucial in the context of multi-contact locomotion of legged robots. In this paper, we formulate the estimation of centroidal dynamics as a maximum a posteriori problem and we use a differential dynamic programming approach for solving it. The soundness of the proposed approach is first validated on a simulated humanoid robot, where ground tru... |
A Unified Optimization Framework and New Set of Performance Metrics for Robot Leg Design | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561618/ | [
"Chathura Semasinghe",
"Drake Taylor",
"Siavash Rezazadeh",
"Chathura Semasinghe",
"Drake Taylor",
"Siavash Rezazadeh"
] | This work presents a framework for the simultaneous optimization of motors, transmissions, and mechanisms of different joints of robotic legs with the goal of achieving an energy efficient, precisely controllable and stable locomotion in dynamic environments. This unified framework allowed us to introduce and formulate new performance metrics for the separate evaluation of the system's stabilizing... |
A Novel Model Predictive Control Framework Using Dynamic Model Decomposition Applied to Dynamic Legged Locomotion | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561499/ | [
"Junjie Shen",
"Dennis Hong",
"Junjie Shen",
"Dennis Hong"
] | Dynamic locomotion for legged robots is difficult because the system dynamics are highly nonlinear and complex, nominally underactuated and unstable, multi-input and multi-output, as well as time-variant and hybrid. One usually faces the choice between the intricate full-body dynamics which remains computationally expensive and sometimes even intractable, and the empirically simplified model which... |
Generating Continuous Motion and Force Plans in Real-Time for Legged Mobile Manipulation | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561117/ | [
"Parker Ewen",
"Jean-Pierre Sleiman",
"Yuxin Chen",
"Wei-Chun Lu",
"Marco Hutter",
"Ram Vasudevan",
"Parker Ewen",
"Jean-Pierre Sleiman",
"Yuxin Chen",
"Wei-Chun Lu",
"Marco Hutter",
"Ram Vasudevan"
] | Manipulators can be added to legged robots, allowing them to interact with and change their environment. Legged mobile manipulation planners must consider how contact forces generated by these manipulators affect the system. Current planning strategies either treat these forces as immutable during planning or are unable to optimize over these contact forces while operating in real-time. This paper... |
Robots of the Lost Arc: Self-Supervised Learning to Dynamically Manipulate Fixed-Endpoint Cables | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561630/ | [
"Harry Zhang",
"Jeffrey Ichnowski",
"Daniel Seita",
"Jonathan Wang",
"Huang Huang",
"Ken Goldberg",
"Harry Zhang",
"Jeffrey Ichnowski",
"Daniel Seita",
"Jonathan Wang",
"Huang Huang",
"Ken Goldberg"
] | We explore how high-speed robot arm motions can dynamically manipulate ropes and cables to vault over obstacles, knock objects from pedestals, and weave between obstacles. In this paper, we propose a self-supervised learning framework that enables a UR5 robot to perform these three tasks. The framework finds a 3D apex point for the robot arm, which, together with a task-specific trajectory functio... |
Learning to Rearrange Deformable Cables, Fabrics, and Bags with Goal-Conditioned Transporter Networks | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561391/ | [
"Daniel Seita",
"Pete Florence",
"Jonathan Tompson",
"Erwin Coumans",
"Vikas Sindhwani",
"Ken Goldberg",
"Andy Zeng",
"Daniel Seita",
"Pete Florence",
"Jonathan Tompson",
"Erwin Coumans",
"Vikas Sindhwani",
"Ken Goldberg",
"Andy Zeng"
] | Rearranging and manipulating deformable objects such as cables, fabrics, and bags is a long-standing challenge in robotic manipulation. The complex dynamics and high-dimensional configuration spaces of deformables, compared to rigid objects, make manipulation difficult not only for multi-step planning, but even for goal specification. Goals cannot be as easily specified as rigid object poses, and ... |
A Joint Network for Grasp Detection Conditioned on Natural Language Commands | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561994/ | [
"Yiye Chen",
"Ruinian Xu",
"Yunzhi Lin",
"Patricio A. Vela",
"Yiye Chen",
"Ruinian Xu",
"Yunzhi Lin",
"Patricio A. Vela"
] | We consider the task of grasping a target object based on a natural language command query. Previous work primarily focused on localizing the object given the query, which requires a separate grasp detection module to grasp it. The cascaded application of two pipelines incurs errors in overlapping multi-object cases due to ambiguity in the individal outputs. This work proposes a model named Comman... |
ReLMoGen: Integrating Motion Generation in Reinforcement Learning for Mobile Manipulation | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561315/ | [
"Fei Xia",
"Chengshu Li",
"Roberto Martín-Martín",
"Or Litany",
"Alexander Toshev",
"Silvio Savarese",
"Fei Xia",
"Chengshu Li",
"Roberto Martín-Martín",
"Or Litany",
"Alexander Toshev",
"Silvio Savarese"
] | Many Reinforcement Learning (RL) approaches use joint control signals (positions, velocities, torques) as action space for continuous control tasks. We propose to lift the action space to a higher level in the form of subgoals for a motion generator (a combination of motion planner and trajectory executor). We argue that, by lifting the action space and by leveraging sampling-based motion planners... |
Efficient Reachability Analysis of Closed-Loop Systems with Neural Network Controllers | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561348/ | [
"Michael Everett",
"Golnaz Habibi",
"Jonathan P. How",
"Michael Everett",
"Golnaz Habibi",
"Jonathan P. How"
] | Neural Networks (NNs) can provide major empirical performance improvements for robotic systems, but they also introduce challenges in formally analyzing those systems’ safety properties. In particular, this work focuses on estimating the forward reachable set of closed-loop systems with NN controllers. Recent work provides bounds on these reachable sets, yet the computationally efficient approache... |
Motion Planning and Feedback Control for Bipedal Robots Riding a Snakeboard | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560963/ | [
"Jonathan Anglingdarma",
"Ayush Agrawal",
"Joshua Morey",
"Koushil Sreenath",
"Jonathan Anglingdarma",
"Ayush Agrawal",
"Joshua Morey",
"Koushil Sreenath"
] | This paper formulates a methodology to plan and control flat-terrain motions of an underactuated bipedal robot riding a snakeboard, which is a steerable variant of the skateboard. We use tools from non-holonomic motion planning to study snakeboard gaits and develop feedback control strategies that enable bipedal robots to produce the desired gaits while maintaining balance, regulating the magnitud... |
Global Position Control on Underactuated Bipedal Robots: Step-to-step Dynamics Approximation for Step Planning | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561961/ | [
"Xiaobin Xiong",
"Jenna Reher",
"Aaron D. Ames",
"Xiaobin Xiong",
"Jenna Reher",
"Aaron D. Ames"
] | Global position control for underactuated bipedal walking is a challenging problem due to the lack of actuation on the feet of the robots. In this paper, we apply the Hybrid-Linear Inverted Pendulum (H-LIP) based stepping on 3D underactuated bipedal robots for global position control. The step-to-step (S2S) dynamics of the H-LIP walking approximates the actual S2S dynamics of the walking of the ro... |
One-Step Ahead Prediction of Angular Momentum about the Contact Point for Control of Bipedal Locomotion: Validation in a LIP-inspired Controller | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560821/ | [
"Yukai Gong",
"Jessy Grizzle",
"Yukai Gong",
"Jessy Grizzle"
] | Ultimately, feedback control is about making adjustments using current state information in order to meet an objective in the future. In the control of bipedal locomotion, linear velocity of the center of mass has been widely accepted as the primary variable around which feedback control objectives are formulated. In this paper, we argue that it is easier to predict the one-step ahead evolution of... |
Hybrid Sampling/Optimization-based Planning for Agile Jumping Robots on Challenging Terrains | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561939/ | [
"Yanran Ding",
"Mengchao Zhang",
"Chuanzheng Li",
"Hae-Won Park",
"Kris Hauser",
"Yanran Ding",
"Mengchao Zhang",
"Chuanzheng Li",
"Hae-Won Park",
"Kris Hauser"
] | This paper proposes a hybrid planning framework that generates complex dynamic motion plans for jumping legged robots to traverse challenging terrains. By employing a motion primitive, the original problem is decoupled as path planning followed by a trajectory optimization (TO) module that handles dynamics. A variant of a kinodynamic Rapidly-exploring Random Trees (RRT) planner finds a path as a p... |
Investigation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Gesture Perceptibility and Impact of Viewpoint Variance | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561094/ | [
"Paul Fletcher",
"Angeline Luther",
"Brittany Duncan",
"Carrick Detweiler",
"Paul Fletcher",
"Angeline Luther",
"Brittany Duncan",
"Carrick Detweiler"
] | Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flight paths have been shown to communicate meaning to human observers, similar to human gestural communication. This paper presents the results of a UAV gesture perception study designed to assess how observer viewpoint perspective may impact how humans perceive the shape of UAV gestural motion. Robot gesture designers have demonstrated that robots can indeed communi... |
Watch Where You’re Going! Gaze and Head Orientation as Predictors for Social Robot Navigation | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561286/ | [
"Blake Holman",
"Abrar Anwar",
"Akash Singh",
"Mauricio Tec",
"Justin Hart",
"Peter Stone",
"Blake Holman",
"Abrar Anwar",
"Akash Singh",
"Mauricio Tec",
"Justin Hart",
"Peter Stone"
] | Mobile robots deployed in human-populated environments must be able to safely and comfortably navigate in close proximity to people. Head orientation and gaze are both mechanisms which help people to interpret where other people intend to walk, which in turn enables them to coordinate their movement. Head orientation has previously been leveraged to develop classifiers which are able to predict th... |
Can a Robot Trust You? : A DRL-Based Approach to Trust-Driven Human-Guided Navigation | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561983/ | [
"Vishnu Sashank Dorbala",
"Arjun Srinivasan",
"Aniket Bera",
"Vishnu Sashank Dorbala",
"Arjun Srinivasan",
"Aniket Bera"
] | Humans are known to construct cognitive maps of their everyday surroundings using a variety of perceptual inputs. As such, when a human is asked for directions to a particular location, their wayfinding capability in converting this cognitive map into directional instructions is challenged. Owing to spatial anxiety, the language used in the spoken instructions can be vague and often unclear. To ac... |
Mesh Based Analysis of Low Fractal Dimension Reinforcement Learning Policies | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561874/ | [
"Sean Gillen",
"Katie Byl",
"Sean Gillen",
"Katie Byl"
] | In previous work, using a process we call meshing, the reachable state spaces for various continuous and hybrid systems were approximated as a discrete set of states which can then be synthesized into a Markov chain. One of the applications for this approach has been to analyze locomotion policies obtained by reinforcement learning, in a step towards making empirical guarantees about the stability... |
Design and Validation of a Novel Exoskeleton Hand Interface: The Eminence Grip | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561744/ | [
"Keya Ghonasgi",
"Chad G. Rose",
"Ana C. De Oliveira",
"Rohit John Varghese",
"Ashish D. Deshpande",
"Keya Ghonasgi",
"Chad G. Rose",
"Ana C. De Oliveira",
"Rohit John Varghese",
"Ashish D. Deshpande"
] | How best to attach exoskeletons to human limbs is an open and understudied problem. In the case of upperbody exoskeletons, cylindrical handles are commonly used attachments due to ease of use and cost effectiveness. However, handles require active grip strength from the user and may result in undesirable flexion synergy stimulation, thus limiting the robot’s effectiveness. This paper presents a ne... |
Active Telepresence Assistance for Supervisory Control: A User Study with a Multi-Camera Tele-Nursing Robot | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561361/ | [
"Alexandra Valiton",
"Hannah Baez",
"Naomi Harrison",
"Justine Roy",
"Zhi Li",
"Alexandra Valiton",
"Hannah Baez",
"Naomi Harrison",
"Justine Roy",
"Zhi Li"
] | Supervisory control of a humanoid robot in a manipulation task requires coordination of remote perception with robot action, which becomes more demanding with multiple moving cameras available for task supervision. We explore the use of autonomous camera control and selection to reduce operator workload and improve task performance in a supervisory control task. We design a novel approach to auton... |
Force-Sensing Tensegrity for Investigating Physical Human-Robot Interaction in Compliant Robotic Systems | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561816/ | [
"Andrew R. Barkan",
"Akhil Padmanabha",
"Sala R. Tiemann",
"Albert Lee",
"Matthew P. Kanter",
"Yash S. Agarwal",
"Alice M. Agogino",
"Andrew R. Barkan",
"Akhil Padmanabha",
"Sala R. Tiemann",
"Albert Lee",
"Matthew P. Kanter",
"Yash S. Agarwal",
"Alice M. Agogino"
] | Advancements in the domain of physical human-robot interaction (pHRI) have tremendously improved the ability of humans and robots to communicate, collaborate, and coexist. In particular, compliant robotic systems offer many characteristics that can be leveraged towards enabling physical interactions that more efficiently and intuitively communicate intent, making compliant systems potentially usef... |
Risk-Aware Decision Making for Service Robots to Minimize Risk of Patient Falls in Hospitals | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560871/ | [
"Roya Sabbagh Novin",
"Amir Yazdani",
"Andrew Merryweather",
"Tucker Hermans",
"Roya Sabbagh Novin",
"Amir Yazdani",
"Andrew Merryweather",
"Tucker Hermans"
] | Planning under uncertainty is a crucial capability for autonomous systems to operate reliably in uncertain and dynamic environments. The concern of safety becomes even more critical in healthcare settings where robots interact with human patients. In this paper, we propose a novel risk-aware planning framework to minimize the risk of falls by providing a patient with an assistive device. Our appro... |
Haptic Feedback Improves Human-Robot Agreement and User Satisfaction in Shared-Autonomy Teleoperation | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560991/ | [
"Dawei Zhang",
"Roberto Tron",
"Rebecca P. Khurshid",
"Dawei Zhang",
"Roberto Tron",
"Rebecca P. Khurshid"
] | Shared autonomy teleoperation can guarantee safety, but does so by reducing the human operator’s control authority, which can lead to reduced levels of human-robot agreement and user satisfaction. This paper presents a novel haptic shared autonomy teleoperation paradigm that uses haptic feedback to inform the user about the inner state of a shared autonomy paradigm, while still guaranteeing safety... |
Environment Reconfiguration Planning for Autonomous Robotic Manipulation to overcome Mobility Constraints | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560799/ | [
"Prateek Arora",
"Christos Papachristos",
"Prateek Arora",
"Christos Papachristos"
] | This paper presents a novel strategy for intelligent robotic environment reconfiguration applied to overcome mobility constraints with an autonomously exploring mobile manipulation system. A realistic problem arising during exploration of unknown challenging environments is the encountering of untraversable areas –given the robot’s mobility constraints– resulting in the robot getting stuck. We pro... |
Adaptive Sampling using POMDPs with Domain-Specific Considerations | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561319/ | [
"Gautam Salhotra",
"Christopher E. Denniston",
"David A. Caron",
"Gaurav S. Sukhatme",
"Gautam Salhotra",
"Christopher E. Denniston",
"David A. Caron",
"Gaurav S. Sukhatme"
] | We investigate improving Monte Carlo Tree Search based solvers for Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs), when applied to adaptive sampling problems. We propose improvements in rollout allocation, the action exploration algorithm, and plan commitment. The first allocates a different number of rollouts depending on how many actions the agent has taken in an episode. We find that r... |
Human Arm Stability in Relation to Damping-Defined Mechanical Environments in Physical Interaction with a Robotic Arm | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561794/ | [
"Fatemeh Zahedi",
"Hyunglae Lee",
"Fatemeh Zahedi",
"Hyunglae Lee"
] | This paper presents an experimental study that investigated how humans interact with viscous, damping-defined mechanical environments and quantified the lower bounds of robotic damping that they can stably interact with. Human subjects performed posture maintenance tasks for different arm postures while holding a robotic arm manipulator simulating unstable (negative) damping-defined environments a... |
Conditioning Style on Substance: Plans for Narrative Observation | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9562095/ | [
"Diptanil Chaudhuri",
"Rhema Ike",
"Hazhar Rahmani",
"Dylan A. Shell",
"Aaron T. Becker",
"Jason M. O’Kane",
"Diptanil Chaudhuri",
"Rhema Ike",
"Hazhar Rahmani",
"Dylan A. Shell",
"Aaron T. Becker",
"Jason M. O’Kane"
] | We consider a robot tasked with observing its environment and later selectively summarizing what it saw as a vivid, structured narrative. The robot interacts with an uncertain environment, modelled as a stochastic process, and must decide what events to pay attention to (substance), and how to best make its recording (style) for later compilation of its summary. If carrying a video camera, for exa... |
DeepQ Stepper: A framework for reactive dynamic walking on uneven terrain | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9562093/ | [
"Avadesh Meduri",
"Majid Khadiv",
"Ludovic Righetti",
"Avadesh Meduri",
"Majid Khadiv",
"Ludovic Righetti"
] | Reactive stepping and push recovery for biped robots is often restricted to flat terrains because of the difficulty in computing capture regions for nonlinear dynamic models. In this paper, we address this limitation by proposing a novel 3D reactive stepper, the DeepQ stepper, that can approximately learn the 3D capture regions of both simplified and full robot dynamic models using reinforcement l... |
Wetland Soil Strength Tester and Core Sampler Using a Drone | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561234/ | [
"Victor M. Baez",
"Shreyas Poyrekar",
"Marcos Ibarra",
"Yusef Haikal",
"Navid H. Jafari",
"Aaron T. Becker",
"Victor M. Baez",
"Shreyas Poyrekar",
"Marcos Ibarra",
"Yusef Haikal",
"Navid H. Jafari",
"Aaron T. Becker"
] | Soil strength testing and collecting soil cores from wetlands is currently a slow, manual process that runs the risk of disturbing and contaminating soil samples. This paper describes a method using an instrumented dart deployed and retrieved by a drone for performing core sample tests in soft soils. The instrumented dart can simultaneously conduct free- fall penetrometer tests. A drone-mounted me... |
Backstepping and Sliding Mode Control for AUVs Aided with Bioinspired Neurodynamics | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561367/ | [
"Zhe Xu",
"Simon X. Yang",
"S. Andrew Gadsden",
"Junfei Li",
"Danjie Zhu",
"Zhe Xu",
"Simon X. Yang",
"S. Andrew Gadsden",
"Junfei Li",
"Danjie Zhu"
] | Research on tracking control has been on-going for many years. The accuracy and the practicality of the tracking control method has always been one of the most important aspects when designing the control strategy. Autonomous Underwater Vehicles are becoming increasingly important in the applications of ocean surveillance and military, etc. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a control method fo... |
Learning-based Inverse Kinematics from Shape as Input for Concentric Tube Continuum Robots | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9562085/ | [
"Nan Liang",
"Reinhard M. Grassmann",
"Sven Lilge",
"Jessica Burgner-Kahrs",
"Nan Liang",
"Reinhard M. Grassmann",
"Sven Lilge",
"Jessica Burgner-Kahrs"
] | We introduce a methodology to compute the inverse kinematics for concentric tube continuum robots from a desired shape as input. We demonstrate that it is possible to accurately learn joint parameters using neural networks for a discrete point-wise shape representation with different discretization. In comparison to a vanilla numerical method, the learning-based method is preferred in terms of acc... |
Using Euler Curves to Model Continuum Robots | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561700/ | [
"Priyanka Rao",
"Quentin Peyron",
"Jessica Burgner-Kahrs",
"Priyanka Rao",
"Quentin Peyron",
"Jessica Burgner-Kahrs"
] | Due to the continuous and flexible nature of continuum robot backbones and the infinite number of parameters required to represent them in configuration space, modeling them accurately and in real-time is challenging. While the constant curvature assumption provides a simple alternative, it is limited in its capabilities as it cannot account for external tip forces. In cases where the backbone dev... |
Data-driven Actuator Selection for Artificial Muscle-Powered Robots | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561050/ | [
"Taylor West Henderson",
"Yuheng Zhi",
"Angela Liu",
"Michael C. Yip",
"Taylor West Henderson",
"Yuheng Zhi",
"Angela Liu",
"Michael C. Yip"
] | Even though artificial muscles have gained popularity due to their compliant, flexible and compact properties, there currently does not exist an easy way of making informed decisions on the appropriate actuation strategy when designing a muscle-powered robot; thus limiting the transition of such technologies into broader applications. What’s more, when a new muscle actuation technology is develope... |
EMG-Based Neural Network Model of Human Arm Dynamics in a Haptic Training Simulator of Sinus Endoscopy | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561555/ | [
"Mojtaba Esfandiari",
"Farzam Farahmand",
"Mojtaba Esfandiari",
"Farzam Farahmand"
] | This paper proposes an EMG-dependant neural network-based model of human forearm during interaction with a haptic training simulator of sinus endoscopy. We used a conventional lumped mass-spring-damper model as a base model, beside which we took effects of muscle activation level, using surface electromyography (EMG) signals, into consideration. Unknown parameters of a five-parameter mass-spring-d... |
Multimodal dynamics modeling for off-road autonomous vehicles | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561910/ | [
"Jean-François Tremblay",
"Travis Manderson",
"Aurélio Noca",
"Gregory Dudek",
"David Meger",
"Jean-François Tremblay",
"Travis Manderson",
"Aurélio Noca",
"Gregory Dudek",
"David Meger"
] | Dynamics modeling in outdoor and unstructured environments is difficult because different elements in the environment interact with the robot in ways that can be hard to predict. Leveraging multiple sensors to perceive maximal information about the robot’s environment is thus crucial when building a model to perform predictions about the robot’s dynamics with the goal of doing motion planning. We ... |
An Anytime Algorithm for Chance Constrained Stochastic Shortest Path Problems and Its Application to Aircraft Routing | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561229/ | [
"Sungkweon Hong",
"Sang Uk Lee",
"Xin Huang",
"Majid Khonji",
"Rashid Alyassi",
"Brian C. Williams",
"Sungkweon Hong",
"Sang Uk Lee",
"Xin Huang",
"Majid Khonji",
"Rashid Alyassi",
"Brian C. Williams"
] | Aircraft routing problem is a crucial component for flight automation. Despite recent successes, challenges still remain when the environment is dynamic and uncertain. In this paper, we tackle the following two challenges. First, when the environment is uncertain, it is much safer if the route planner can guarantee a specified level of safety. Second, when the environment is dynamic, the planner n... |
An Intention Guided Hierarchical Framework for Trajectory-based Teleoperation of Mobile Robots | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561798/ | [
"Xuning Yang",
"Jasmine Cheng",
"Nathan Michael",
"Xuning Yang",
"Jasmine Cheng",
"Nathan Michael"
] | In human-in-the-loop navigation, the operator’s intention is to locally avoid obstacles while planning long-horizon paths in order to complete the navigation task. We propose a hierarchical teleoperation framework that captures these characteristics of intention, and generates trajectories that are locally safe and follow the operator’s global plan. The hierarchical teleoperation framework consist... |
Accelerating combinatorial filter reduction through constraints | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9562036/ | [
"Yulin Zhang",
"Hazhar Rahmani",
"Dylan A. Shell",
"Jason M. O’Kane",
"Yulin Zhang",
"Hazhar Rahmani",
"Dylan A. Shell",
"Jason M. O’Kane"
] | Reduction of combinatorial filters involves compressing state representations that robots use. Such optimization arises in automating the construction of minimalist robots. But exact combinatorial filter reduction is an NP-complete problem and all current techniques are either inexact or formalized with exponentially many constraints. This paper proposes a new formalization needing only a polynomi... |
MorphEyes: Variable Baseline Stereo For Quadrotor Navigation | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561116/ | [
"Nitin J. Sanket",
"Chahat Deep Singh",
"Varun Asthana",
"Cornelia Fermüller",
"Yiannis Aloimonos",
"Nitin J. Sanket",
"Chahat Deep Singh",
"Varun Asthana",
"Cornelia Fermüller",
"Yiannis Aloimonos"
] | Morphable design and depth-based visual control are two upcoming trends leading to advancements in the field of quadrotor autonomy. Stereo-cameras have struck the perfect balance of weight and accuracy of depth estimation but suffer from the problem of depth range being limited and dictated by the baseline chosen at design time. In this paper, we present a framework for quadrotor navigation based ... |
A Drive-through Recharging Strategy for a Quadrotor | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561482/ | [
"Yafeng Wang",
"Qinbo Sun",
"Tristan Berger",
"Weimin Qi",
"Yafeng Wang",
"Qinbo Sun",
"Tristan Berger",
"Weimin Qi"
] | This paper proposes a drive-through recharging strategy for a quadrotor. First, a ground charging station is constructed with a portable charging wire, then with two conductive hooks connected to the battery, the quadrotor is flying through the station. Finally, after connecting the hooks to the charging wire, the quadrotor can be recharged without landing or stopping, similar to a drive-through. ... |
Continuous-time State & Dynamics Estimation using a Pseudo-Spectral Parameterization | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561318/ | [
"Varun Agrawal",
"Frank Dellaert",
"Varun Agrawal",
"Frank Dellaert"
] | We present a novel continuous time trajectory representation based on a Chebyshev polynomial basis, which when governed by known dynamics models, allows for full trajectory and robot dynamics estimation, particularly useful for high-performance robotics applications such as unmanned aerial vehicles. We show that we can gracefully incorporate model dynamics to our trajectory representation, within ... |
Active Bayesian Multi-class Mapping from Range and Semantic Segmentation Observations | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561711/ | [
"Arash Asgharivaskasi",
"Nikolay Atanasov",
"Arash Asgharivaskasi",
"Nikolay Atanasov"
] | Many robot applications call for autonomous exploration and mapping of unknown and unstructured environments. Information-based exploration techniques, such as Cauchy-Schwarz quadratic mutual information (CSQMI) and fast Shannon mutual information (FSMI), have successfully achieved active binary occupancy mapping with range measurements. However, as we envision robots performing complex tasks spec... |
Attention-Based Probabilistic Planning with Active Perception | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561154/ | [
"Haoxiang Ma",
"Jie Fu",
"Haoxiang Ma",
"Jie Fu"
] | Attention control is a key cognitive ability for humans to select information relevant to the current task. This paper develops a computational model of attention and an algorithm for attention-based probabilistic planning in Markov decision processes. In attention-based planning, the robot decides to be in different attention modes. An attention mode corresponds to a subset of state variables mon... |
Search-based Planning for Active Sensing in Goal-Directed Coverage Tasks | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561310/ | [
"Tushar Kusnur",
"Dhruv Mauria Saxena",
"Maxim Likhachev",
"Tushar Kusnur",
"Dhruv Mauria Saxena",
"Maxim Likhachev"
] | Path planning for robotic coverage is the task of determining a collision-free robot trajectory that observes all points of interest in an environment. Robots employed for such tasks are often capable of exercising active control over onboard observational sensors during navigation. We address the problem of planning robot and sensor trajectories that maximize information gain in such tasks, where... |
Docking and Undocking a Modular Underactuated Oscillating Swimming Robot | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9562033/ | [
"Gedaliah Knizhnik",
"Mark Yim",
"Gedaliah Knizhnik",
"Mark Yim"
] | We describe a docking mechanism and strategy to allow modular self-assembly for the Modboat: an inexpensive, underactuated, oscillating, surface-swimming robot powered by a single motor. Because propulsion is achieved through oscillation, orientation can be controlled only in the average; this complicates docking, which requires precise position and orientation control. Given these challenges, we ... |
Predictive 3D Sonar Mapping of Underwater Environments via Object-specific Bayesian Inference | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9560737/ | [
"John McConnell",
"Brendan Englot",
"John McConnell",
"Brendan Englot"
] | Recent work has achieved dense 3D reconstruction with wide-aperture imaging sonar using a stereo pair of orthogonally oriented sonars. This allows each sonar to observe a spatial dimension that the other is missing, without requiring any prior assumptions about scene geometry. However, this is achieved only in a small region with overlapping fields-of-view, leaving large regions of sonar image obs... |
Self-Organized Evasive Fountain Maneuvers with a Bioinspired Underwater Robot Collective | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9561407/ | [
"Florian Berlinger",
"Paula Wulkop",
"Radhika Nagpal",
"Florian Berlinger",
"Paula Wulkop",
"Radhika Nagpal"
] | Several animal species self-organize into large groups to leverage vital behaviors such as foraging, construction, or predator evasion. With the advancement of robotics and automation, engineered multi-agent systems have been inspired to achieve similarly high degrees of scalable, robust, and adaptable autonomy through decentralized and dynamic coordination. So far however, they have been most suc... |
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