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This paper presents the design, analysis, and performance evaluation of an omnidirectional transformable wheel-leg robot called OmniWheg. We design a novel mechanism consisting of a separable omni-wheel and 4-bar linkages, allowing the…
Wings of flying animals can not only generate lift and control torques but also can sense their surroundings. Such dual functions of sensing and actuation coupled in one element are particularly useful for small sized bio-inspired robotic…
Robots often use feature-based image tracking to identify their position in their surrounding environment; however, feature-based image tracking is prone to errors in low-textured and poorly lit environments. Specifically, we investigate a…
The Zadko Telescope is a 1 m f/4 Cassegrain telescope, situated in the state of Western Australia about 80 km north of Perth. The facility plays a niche role in Australian astronomy, as it is the only meter class facility in Australia…
This study describes the development and validation of a novel microgravity experimental platform that is mainly applied to small robots such as modular self-reconfigurable robots. This platform mainly consists of an air supply system, a…
Aerial displays of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) at their communal roosts are complex: thousands of individuals form multiple flocks which are continually changing shape and density, while splitting and merging. To understand these complex…
Pedestrian trajectory prediction is crucial for many important applications. This problem is a great challenge because of complicated interactions among pedestrians. Previous methods model only the pairwise interactions between pedestrians,…
The task of self-balancing is one of the most important tasks when developing humanoid robots. This paper proposes a novel external balance mechanism for humanoid robot to maintain sideway balance. First, a dynamic model of the humanoid…
A whole-body torque control framework adapted for balancing and walking tasks is presented in this paper. In the proposed approach, centroidal momentum terms are excluded in favor of a hierarchy of high-priority position and orientation…
Localization is a crucial task for autonomous mobile robots in order to successfully move to goal locations in their environment. Usually, this is done in a robot-centric manner, where the robot maintains a map with its body in the center.…
Large-scale photometric surveys are revolutionizing astronomy by delivering unprecedented amounts of data. The rich data sets from missions such as the NASA Kepler and TESS satellites, and the upcoming ESA PLATO mission, are a treasure…
DribbleBot (Dexterous Ball Manipulation with a Legged Robot) is a legged robotic system that can dribble a soccer ball under the same real-world conditions as humans (i.e., in-the-wild). We adopt the paradigm of training policies in…
Astrophotonics is the application of photonic technologies to channel, manipulate, and disperse light from one or more telescopes to achieve scientific objectives in astronomy in an efficient and cost-effective way. Utilizing photonic…
Legged machines are becoming increasingly agile and adaptive but they have so far lacked the morphological diversity of legged animals, which have been rearranged and reshaped to fill millions of niches. Unlike their biological…
The development of mobile robot platforms for inspection has gained traction in recent years with the rapid advancement in hardware and software. However, conventional mobile robots are unable to address the challenge of operating in…
Multi-legged elongate robots hold promise for maneuvering through complex environments. Prior work has demonstrated that reliable locomotion can be achieved using open-loop body undulation and foot placement on rugose terrain. However,…
Robots operating in real-world environments frequently encounter unknown objects with complex structures and articulated components, such as doors, drawers, cabinets, and tools. The ability to perceive, track, and manipulate these objects…
We present an innovative robotic device designed to provide controlled motion for studying active matter. Motion is driven by an internal vibrator powered by a small rechargeable battery. The system integrates acoustic and magnetic sensors…
If robots are to become ubiquitous, they will need to be able to adapt to complex and dynamic environments. Robots that can adapt their bodies while deployed might be flexible and robust enough to meet this challenge. Previous work on…
Thin plastic bags are ubiquitous in retail stores, healthcare, food handling, recycling, homes, and school lunchrooms. They are challenging both for perception (due to specularities and occlusions) and for manipulation (due to the dynamics…