Related papers: The STRANDS Project: Long-Term Autonomy in Everyda…
Mapping the surrounding environment is essential for the successful operation of autonomous robots. While extensive research has focused on mapping geometric structures and static objects, the environment is also influenced by the movement…
Autonomous vehicles have been actively investigated over the past few decades. Several recent works show the potential of autonomous vehicles in urban environments with impressive experimental results. However, these works note that…
The fast-growing demand for fully autonomous robots in shared spaces calls for the development of trustworthy agents that can safely and seamlessly navigate in crowded environments. Recent models for motion prediction show promise in…
Social robots are emerging as learning companions for children, and research shows that they facilitate the development of interest and learning even through brief interactions. However, little is known about how such technologies might…
Robotic Exploration has evolved rapidly in the past two decades as new and more complex techniques have been created to explore unknown regions efficiently. Exciting advancements in exploration, autonomous navigation, and sensor technology…
Robots are improving their autonomy with minimal human supervision. However, auditable actions, transparent decision processes, and new human-robot interaction models are still missing requirements to achieve extended robot autonomy. To…
In contrast to manned missions, the application of autonomous robots for space exploration missions decreases the safety concerns of the exploration missions while extending the exploration distance since returning transportation is not…
Autonomous robots often encounter challenging situations where their control policies fail and an expert human operator must briefly intervene, e.g., through teleoperation. In settings where multiple robots act in separate environments, a…
Sustainability is no longer a matter of choice but is invariably linked to the survival of the entire ecosystem of our planet Earth. As robotics technology is growing at an exponential rate, it is crucial to examine its implications for…
Space exploration missions have seen use of increasingly sophisticated robotic systems with ever more autonomy. Deep learning promises to take this even a step further, and has applications for high-level tasks, like path planning, as well…
The limited energy capacity of individual robotic agents in a swarm often limits the possible cooperative tasks they can perform. In this work, we investigate the problem of covering an unknown connected grid environment (e.g. a maze or…
Autonomy and independent navigation are vital to daily life but remain challenging for individuals with blindness. Robotic systems can enhance mobility and confidence by providing intelligent navigation assistance. However, fully autonomous…
Robots operating in close proximity to humans rely heavily on human trust to successfully complete their tasks. But what are the real outcomes when this trust is violated? Self-defense law provides a framework for analyzing tangible failure…
Continuum robots, characterized by their high flexibility and infinite degrees of freedom (DoFs), have gained prominence in applications such as minimally invasive surgery and hazardous environment exploration. However, the intrinsic…
Autonomy for robots interacting with sand will enable a wide range of beneficial behaviors, from earth moving for construction and farming vehicles to navigating rough terrain for Mars rovers. The goal of this work is to shape sand into…
Shared autonomy provides an effective framework for human-robot collaboration that takes advantage of the complementary strengths of humans and robots to achieve common goals. Many existing approaches to shared autonomy make restrictive…
Socially assistive robots are increasingly being used to support the social, cognitive, and physical well-being of those who provide care (healthcare professionals) and those in need of care (older adults). However, the effectiveness of…
With their potential to significantly reduce traffic accidents, enhance road safety, optimize traffic flow, and decrease congestion, autonomous driving systems are a major focus of research and development in recent years. Beyond these…
Personal mobile robotic assistants are expected to find wide applications in industry and healthcare. For example, people with limited mobility can benefit from robots helping with daily tasks, or construction workers can have robots…
Long-term planning for robots operating in domestic environments poses unique challenges due to the interactions between humans, objects, and spaces. Recent advancements in trajectory planning have leveraged vision-language models (VLMs) to…