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We present VAPOR, a novel method for autonomous legged robot navigation in unstructured, densely vegetated outdoor environments using offline Reinforcement Learning (RL). Our method trains a novel RL policy using an actor-critic network and…

Mobile robots will play a crucial role in the transition towards sustainable agriculture. To autonomously and effectively monitor the state of plants, robots ought to be equipped with visual perception capabilities that are robust to the…

In this paper we present a study of a specific class of vibration-driven robots: the brushbots. In a bottom-up fashion, we start by deriving dynamic models of the brushes and we discuss the conditions under which these models can be…

We study a Visual-Inertial Navigation (VIN) problem in which a robot needs to estimate its state using an on-board camera and an inertial sensor, without any prior knowledge of the external environment. We consider the case in which the…

The visuomotor system of any animal is critical for its survival, and the development of a complex one within humans is large factor in our success as a species on Earth. This system is an essential part of our ability to adapt to our…

Variable impedance actuators (VIAs) as tool devices for teleoperation could extend the range of tasks that humans can perform through a teleoperated robot by mimicking the change of upper limb stiffness that humans perform for different…

In this paper, we propose an operation procedure for our previously developed in-pipe robotic system that is used for water quality monitoring in water distribution systems (WDS). The proposed operation procedure synchronizes a developed…

Soft growing robots, are a type of robots that are designed to move and adapt to their environment in a similar way to how plants grow and move with potential applications where they could be used to navigate through tight spaces, dangerous…

Socially aware robot navigation is gaining popularity with the increase in delivery and assistive robots. The research is further fueled by a need for socially aware navigation skills in autonomous vehicles to move safely and appropriately…

Large scale, diverse demonstration data for manipulation tasks remains a major challenge in learning-based robot policies. Existing in-the-wild data collection approaches often rely on vision-based pose estimation of hand-held grippers or…

Proper path planning is the first step of robust and efficient autonomous navigation for mobile robots. Meanwhile, it is still challenging for robots to work in a complex environment without complete prior information. This paper presents…

Recent literature in the robotics community has focused on learning robot behaviors that abstract out lower-level details of robot control. To fully leverage the efficacy of such behaviors, it is necessary to select and sequence them to…

Mountain slopes are perfect examples of harsh environments in which humans are required to perform difficult and dangerous operations such as removing unstable boulders, dangerous vegetation or deploying safety nets. A good replacement for…

Imitation learning has demonstrated significant potential in performing high-precision manipulation tasks using visual feedback. However, it is common practice in imitation learning for cameras to be fixed in place, resulting in issues like…

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…

Recently, the navigation of mobile robots in unknown environments has become a particularly significant research topic. Previous studies have primarily employed real-time environmental mapping using cameras and LiDAR, along with…

In this paper, we introduce a novel method to capture visual trajectories for navigating an indoor robot in dynamic settings using streaming image data. First, an image processing pipeline is proposed to accurately segment trajectories from…

Navigating safely in dynamic human environments is crucial for mobile service robots, and social navigation is a key aspect of this process. In this paper, we proposed an integrative approach that combines motion prediction and trajectory…

Autonomous robots navigating in off-road terrain like forests open new opportunities for automation. While off-road navigation has been studied, existing work often relies on clearly delineated pathways. We present a method allowing for…

Visual inspection of confined spaces such as aircraft wings is ergonomically challenging for human mechanics. This work presents a novel crane robot that can travel the entire span of the aircraft wing, enabling mechanics to perform…