Related papers: Contact-Implicit Trajectory Optimization Based on …
Object manipulation has been extensively studied in the context of fixed base and mobile manipulators. However, the overactuated locomotion modality employed by snake robots allows for a unique blend of object manipulation through…
Simplified models of the dynamics such as the linear inverted pendulum model (LIPM) have proven to perform well for biped walking on flat ground. However, for more complex tasks the assumptions of these models can become limiting. For…
This paper presents ConVex optimization-based Stochastic steady-state Tracking Error Minimization (CV-STEM), a new state feedback control framework for a class of Ito stochastic nonlinear systems and Lagrangian systems. Its innovation lies…
We introduce multi-task Visuo-Tactile World Models (VT-WM), which capture the physics of contact through touch reasoning. By complementing vision with tactile sensing, VT-WM better understands robot-object interactions in contact-rich…
This paper uses a mobile manipulator with a collaborative robotic arm to manipulate objects beyond the robot's maximum payload. It proposes a single-shot probabilistic roadmap-based method to plan and optimize manipulation motion with…
Contact-rich problems, such as snake robot locomotion, offer unexplored yet rich opportunities for optimization-based trajectory and acyclic contact planning. So far, a substantial body of control research has focused on emulating snake…
This thesis presents a unified modeling and simulation framework for analyzing sidewinding and tumbling locomotion of the COBRA snake robot across rigid, compliant, and granular terrains. A contact-implicit formulation is used to model…
We present a principled method for motion prediction via dynamic simulation for rigid bodies in intermittent contact with each other where the contact is assumed to be a planar non-convex contact patch. The planar non-convex contact patch…
This work presents an efficient method to solve a class of continuous-time, continuous-space stochastic optimal control problems of robot motion in a cluttered environment. The method builds upon a path integral representation of the…
Sequential Convex Programming (SCP) has recently seen a surge of interest as a tool for trajectory optimization. However, most available methods lack rigorous performance guarantees and they are often tailored to specific optimal control…
Designing trajectories for manipulation through contact is challenging as it requires reasoning of object \& robot trajectories as well as complex contact sequences simultaneously. In this paper, we present a novel framework for…
In the recent past, several sampling-based algorithms have been proposed to compute trajectories that are collision-free and dynamically-feasible. However, the outputs of such algorithms are notoriously jagged. In this paper, by focusing on…
Generating intelligent robot behavior in contact-rich settings is a research problem where zeroth-order methods currently prevail. Developing methods that make use of first/second order information about rigid-body dynamics in the presence…
We propose an approach to trajectory optimization for piecewise polynomial systems based on the recently proposed graphs of convex sets framework. We instantiate the framework with a convex relaxation of optimal control based on occupation…
We develop a new proximal-gradient method for minimizing the sum of a differentiable, possibly nonconvex, function plus a convex, possibly non differentiable, function. The key features of the proposed method are the definition of a…
Accurate frictional contact is critical in simulating the assembly of rod-like structures in the practical world, such as knots, hairs, flagella, and more. Due to their high geometric nonlinearity and elasticity, rod-on-rod contact remains…
In this paper, we present an approach for generating a variety of whole-body motions for a humanoid robot. We extend the available Model Predictive Control (MPC) approaches for walking on flat terrain to plan for both vertical motion of the…
Contact-rich dexterous manipulation with multi-finger hands remains an open challenge in robotics because task success depends on multi-point contacts that continuously evolve and are highly sensitive to object geometry, frictional…
Humanoid robots have great potential for real-world applications due to their ability to operate in environments built for humans, but their deployment is hindered by the challenge of controlling their underlying high-dimensional nonlinear…
Navigation in cluttered environments often requires robots to tolerate contact with movable or deformable objects to maintain efficiency. Existing contact-tolerant motion planning (CTMP) methods rely on indirect spatial representations…