Related papers: Implicit learning of object geometry by reducing c…

The standard analytical approach for studying gravity free-surface waves generated by a moving body often relies upon a linearization of the physical geometry, where the body is considered asymptotically small in one or several of its…

Surveillance and surveying are two important applications of empirical research. A major part of terrain modelling is supported by photographic surveys which are used for capturing expansive natural surfaces using a wide range of sensors --…

We define "robotic contact juggling" to be the purposeful control of the motion of a three-dimensional smooth object as it rolls freely on a motion-controlled robot manipulator, or "hand." While specific examples of robotic contact juggling…

In our daily life, we often encounter objects that are fragile and can be damaged by excessive grasping force, such as fruits. For these objects, it is paramount to grasp gently -- not using the maximum amount of force possible, but rather…

A ball rolled over a shallow step will experience an increase in velocity along the direction perpendicular to the step. This causes a deflection in the ball's trajectory. In this paper we derive the equations that describe the motion of a…

Daily objects embedded in a contextual environment are often ungraspable initially. Whether it is a book sandwiched by other books on a fully packed bookshelf or a piece of paper lying flat on the desk, a series of nonprehensile pregrasp…

Track systems effectively distribute loads, augmenting traction and maneuverability on unstable terrains, leveraging their expansive contact areas. This tracked locomotion capability also aids in hand manipulation of not only regular…

Hands are a fundamental tool humans use to interact with the environment and objects. Through hand motions, we can obtain information about the shape and materials of the surfaces we touch, modify our surroundings by interacting with…

In this paper we discuss the smoothness conditions for metrics on a cohomogeneity one manifold, i.e. metrics invariant under a Lie group whose generic orbits are hypersurfaces. Along these hypersurfaces one describes the metrics in terms of…

Both a good understanding of geometrical concepts and a broad familiarity with objects lead to our excellent perception of moving objects. The human ability to detect and segment moving objects works in the presence of multiple objects,…

Given a demonstration of a complex manipulation task, such as pouring liquid from one container to another, we seek to generate a motion plan for a new task instance involving objects with different geometries. This is nontrivial since we…

Robots can rapidly acquire new skills from demonstrations. However, during generalisation of skills or transitioning across fundamentally different skills, it is unclear whether the robot has the necessary knowledge to perform the task.…

When a rigid rough solid slides on a rigid rough surface, it experiences a random motion in the direction normal to the average contact plane. Here, through simulations of the separation at single-point contact between self-affine…

We address the difficult question of inferring plausible node mobility based only on information from wireless contact traces. Working with mobility information allows richer protocol simulations, particularly in dense networks, but…

In this paper we investigate the flow of surfaces by a class of symmetric functions of the principal curvatures with a mixed volume constraint. We consider compact surfaces without boundary that can be written as a graph over a sphere. The…

Estimating hand-object manipulations is essential for interpreting and imitating human actions. Previous work has made significant progress towards reconstruction of hand poses and object shapes in isolation. Yet, reconstructing hands and…

Smooth parametrization consists in a subdivision of the mathematical objects under consideration into simple pieces, and then parametric representation of each piece, while keeping control of high order derivatives. The main goal of the…

Curvature plays a central organizational role in active polymer dynamics. Using large-scale Langevin-dynamics simulations, we study active semiflexible filaments confined to smooth curved surfaces and map how curvature, bending rigidity,…

Dexterous robotic hands are appealing for their agility and human-like morphology, yet their high degree of freedom makes learning to manipulate challenging. We introduce an approach for learning dexterous grasping. Our key idea is to embed…

We present a novel method for the direct transfer of grasps and manipulations between objects and hands through utilization of contact areas. Our method fully preserves contact shapes, and in contrast to existing techniques, is not…