Related papers: Measuring information transfer in a soft robotic a…

Soft materials have many important roles in animal locomotion and object manipulation. In robotic applications soft materials can store and release energy, absorb impacts, increase compliance and increase the range of possible shape…

This paper presents a principled way to think about articulated movement for artificial agents and a measurement of platforms that produce such movement. In particular, in human-facing scenarios, the shape evolution of robotic platforms…

Soft materials are not only highly deformable but they also possess rich and diverse body dynamics. Soft body dynamics exhibit a variety of properties, including nonlinearity, elasticity, and potentially infinitely many degrees of freedom.…

Torque and continuous rotation are fundamental methods of actuation and manipulation in rigid robots. Soft robot arms use soft materials and structures to mimic the passive compliance of biological arms that bend and extend. This use of…

Physical interaction between humans and robots can help robots learn to perform complex tasks. The robot arm gains information by observing how the human kinesthetically guides it throughout the task. While prior works focus on how the…

Imitation can allow us to quickly gain an understanding of a new task. Through a demonstration, we can gain direct knowledge about which actions need to be performed and which goals they have. In this paper, we introduce a new approach to…

Many technical solutions are bio-inspired. Octopus-inspired robotic arms belong to continuum robots which are used in minimally invasive surgery or for technical system restoration in areas difficult-toaccess. Continuum robot missions are…

Information transfer is an essential factor in determining the robustness of collective behaviour in biological systems with distributed control. The most direct way to study the information transfer mechanisms is to experimentally detect…

Engineered systems typically separate mechanical function from information processing, whereas biological systems can exploit physical structure as a medium for information processing and computation. Motivated by this contrast, recent work…

Soft robots are intrinsically capable of adapting to different environments by changing their shape in response to interaction forces with the environment. However, sensing and feedback are still required for higher level decisions and…

Soft Continuum arms, such as trunk and tentacle robots, can be considered as the "dual" of traditional rigid-bodied robots in terms of manipulability, degrees of freedom, and compliance. Introduced two decades ago, continuum arms have not…

In this article, a biophysically realistic model of a soft octopus arm with internal musculature is presented. The modeling is motivated by experimental observations of sensorimotor control where an arm localizes and reaches a target. Major…

Accurate post-impact velocity predictions are essential in developing impact-aware manipulation strategies for robots, where contacts are intentionally established at non-zero speed mimicking human manipulation abilities in dynamic grasping…

Human body motions can be captured as a high-dimensional continuous signal using motion sensor technologies. The resulting data can be surprisingly rich in information, even when captured from persons with limited mobility. In this work, we…

Humans can leverage physical interaction to teach robot arms. As the human kinesthetically guides the robot through demonstrations, the robot learns the desired task. While prior works focus on how the robot learns, it is equally important…

Inspired by the embodied intelligence of biological creatures like the octopus, the soft robotic arm utilizes its highly flexible structure to perform various tasks in the complex environment. While the classic Cosserat rod theory…

Identifying changes in contact during contact-rich manipulation can detect task state or errors, enabling improved robustness and autonomy. The ability to detect contact is affected by the mechatronic design of the robot, especially its…

Soft robots show compliance and have infinite degrees of freedom. Thanks to these properties, such robots can be leveraged for surgery, rehabilitation, biomimetics, unstructured environment exploring, and industrial grippers. In this case,…

This work explores the effect of object weight on human motion and grip release during handovers to enhance the naturalness, safety, and efficiency of robot-human interactions. We introduce adaptive robotic strategies based on the analysis…

Soft robots offer more flexibility, compliance, and adaptability than traditional rigid robots. They are also typically lighter and cheaper to manufacture. However, their use in real-world applications is limited due to modeling challenges…