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Developing an efficient and robust polarimeter for wide spectral ranges and space applications is a main issue in many projects. As part of the UVMag consortium created to develop UV facilities in space (e.g. the Arago mission proposed to…
Active systems of self-propelled agents, e.g., birds, fish, and bacteria, can organize their collective motion into myriad autonomous behaviors. Ubiquitous in nature and across length scales, such phenomena are also amenable to artificial…
Massive spectroscopic survey are becoming trendy in astrophysics and cosmology, as they can address new fundamental knowledge such as Galactic Archaeology and probe the nature of the mysterious Dark Energy. To enable massive spectroscopic…
Robust and accurate proprioceptive state estimation of the main body is crucial for legged robots to execute tasks in extreme environments where exteroceptive sensors, such as LiDARs and cameras, may become unreliable. In this paper, we…
WEAVE is a 1000-fiber multi-object spectroscopic facility for the 4.2~m William Herschel Telescope. It will feature a double-headed pick-and-place fiber positioning robot comprising commercially available robotic axes. This paper presents…
This paper discusses a new approach for determining the calibration parameters of independently-actuated optical fibers in multi-object astronomical fiber positioning systems. This work comes from the development of a new type of…
The humanoid robot iCub is a research platform of the Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), spread among different institutes around the world. In the most recent version of iCub, the robot is equipped with stronger legs and…
A pointing accuracy better than 1"(3sigma) star tracker plays a significant role for the advanced scientific missions. This thesis makes a series of studies on the typical error sources associated with the positioning and calibration…
The 2dF (Two-degree Field) facility at the prime focus of the Anglo-Australian Telescope provides multiple object spectroscopy over a 2 degree field of view. Up to 400 target fibres can be independently positioned by a complex robot. Two…
We present the results of a study along with a first prototype of a high precision system (? 1 arcsec) for pointing and tracking light (near-infrared) telescopes on board stratospheric balloons. Such a system is essentially composed by a…
Entanglements like vines and branches in natural settings or cords and pipes in human spaces prevent mobile robots from accessing many environments. Legged robots should be effective in these settings, and more so than wheeled or tracked…
Starlink has rapidly emerged as the world's largest satellite constellation and the de facto reference system for low Earth orbit (LEO) networking research. Existing literature predominantly models Starlink as a static, symmetric, and fully…
This work briefly covers our efforts to stabilize the flight dynamics of Northeastern's tailless bat-inspired micro aerial vehicle, Aerobat. Flapping robots are not new. A plethora of examples is mainly dominated by insect-style design…
Advances in legged robotics are strongly rooted in animal observations. A clear illustration of this claim is the generalization of Central Pattern Generators (CPG), first identified in the cat spinal cord, to generate cyclic motion in…
This paper aims to improve the performance and positioning accuracy of a robot by using the particle filter method. The laser range information is a wireless navigation system mainly used to measure, position, and control autonomous robots.…
This paper presents a framework for dynamic object catching using a quadruped robot's front legs while it stands on its rear legs. The system integrates computer vision, trajectory prediction, and leg control to enable the quadruped to…
Live and pre-recorded video tutorials are an effective means for teaching physical skills such as cooking or prototyping electronics. A dedicated cameraperson following an instructor's activities can improve production quality. However,…
We describe the development of a tracking device, mounted on an epi-fluorescent inverted microscope, suited to obtain time resolved 3D Lagrangian tracks of fluorescent passive or active micro-objects in micro-fluidic devices. The system is…
In recent years, the field of aerial robotics has witnessed significant progress, finding applications in diverse domains, including post-disaster search and rescue operations. Despite these strides, the prohibitive acquisition costs…
The issues related to moving elements in space and instruments working in broader wavelength ranges lead to a need for robust polarimeters, efficient on a wide spectral domain, and adapted to space conditions. As part of the UVMag…