Related papers: Closed-Chain Manipulation of Large Objects by Mult…
In this paper we present a novel algorithm to solve the robot kinematic structure identification problem. Given a time series of data, typically obtained processing a set of visual observations, the proposed approach identifies the ordered…
Inverse kinematics (IK) is central to robot control and motion planning, yet its nonlinear kinematic mapping makes it inherently nonconvex and particularly challenging under complex constraints. We present IKSPARK (Inverse Kinematics using…
Action representation is an important yet often overlooked aspect in end-to-end robot learning with deep networks. Choosing one action space over another (e.g. target joint positions, or Cartesian end-effector poses) can result in…
Fine robotic assembly, in which the parts to be assembled are small and fragile and lie in an unstructured environment, is still out of reach of today's industrial robots. The main difficulties arise in the precise localization of the parts…
This paper presents a motion planner for systems subject to kinematic and dynamic constraints. The former appear when kinematic loops are present in the system, such as in parallel manipulators, in robots that cooperate to achieve a given…
Robots deployed in human-centric environments may need to manipulate a diverse range of articulated objects, such as doors, dishwashers, and cabinets. Articulated objects often come with unexpected articulation mechanisms that are…
Humans can effortlessly perform very complex, dexterous manipulation tasks by reacting to sensor observations. In contrast, robots can not perform reactive manipulation and they mostly operate in open-loop while interacting with their…
Recent advancements in constrained kinematic control make it an attractive strategy for controlling robots with arbitrary geometry in challenging tasks. Most current works assume that the robot kinematic model is precise enough for the task…
Serial robot arms have complicated kinematic equations which must be solved to write effective arm planning and control software (the Inverse Kinematics Problem). Existing software packages for inverse kinematics often rely on numerical…
We propose a method for dual-arm manipulation of rigid objects, subject to external disturbance. The problem is formulated as a Cartesian impedance controller within a projected inverse dynamics framework. We use the constrained component…
Human-robot cooperation is essential in environments such as warehouses and retail stores, where workers frequently handle deformable objects like paper, bags, and fabrics. Coordinating robotic actions with human assistance remains…
Quantum many-body systems with kinetic constraints exhibit intriguing relaxation dynamics. Recent experimental progress in the field of cold atomic gases offers a handle for probing collective behavior of such systems, in particular for…
Robot arms that assist humans should be able to pick up, move, and release everyday objects. Today's assistive robot arms use rigid grippers to pinch items between fingers; while these rigid grippers are well suited for large and heavy…
Multi-stage forceful manipulation tasks, such as twisting a nut on a bolt, require reasoning over interlocking constraints over discrete as well as continuous choices. The robot must choose a sequence of discrete actions, or strategy, such…
A common way to manipulate heavy objects is to maintain at least one point of the object in contact with the environment during the manipulation. When the object has a cylindrical shape or, in general, a curved edge, not only sliding and…
Applying intelligent robot arms in dynamic uncertain environments (i.e., flexible production lines) remains challenging, which requires efficient algorithms for real time trajectory generation. The motion planning problem for robot…
Existing learning approaches to dexterous manipulation use demonstrations or interactions with the environment to train black-box neural networks that provide little control over how the robot learns the skills or how it would perform post…
Intrinsically elastic robots surpass their rigid counterparts in a range of different characteristics. By temporarily storing potential energy and subsequently converting it to kinetic energy, elastic robots are capable of highly dynamic…
With humankind facing new and increasingly large-scale challenges in the medical and domestic spheres, automation of the service sector carries a tremendous potential for improved efficiency, quality, and safety of operations. Mobile…
Using results on the topology of moduli space of polygons [Jaggi, 92; Kapovich and Millson, 94], it can be shown that for a planar robot arm with $n$ segments there are some values of the base-length, $z$, at which the configuration space…