Related papers: Loosely Coupled Payload Transport System with Robo…
In this paper we propose a control framework that enables robots to execute tasks persistently, i.e., over time horizons much longer than robots' battery life. This is achieved by ensuring that the energy stored in the batteries of the…
This paper presents a novel planning method that achieves navigation of multi-robot formations in cluttered environments, while maintaining the formation throughout the robots motion. The method utilises a decentralised approach to find…
Efficiently solving path planning problems for a large number of robots is critical to the successful operation of modern warehouses. The existing approaches adopt classical shortest path algorithms to plan in environments whose cells are…
This paper presents a safety-critical centralized nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) framework for cooperative payload transportation by two quadrupedal robots. The interconnected robot-payload system is modeled as a discrete-time…
This paper presents a simplified model-based trajectory optimization (TO) formulation for motion planning on quadruped mobile manipulators that carry heavy payload of known mass. The proposed payload-aware formulation simultaneously plans…
Swarms of aerial drones have recently been considered for last-mile deliveries in urban logistics or automated construction. At the same time, collaborative transportation of payloads by multiple drones is another important area of recent…
This article presents a multi-robot trajectory planning method which not only guarantees optimization feasibility and but also resolves deadlocks in obstacle-dense environments. The method is proposed via formulating a recursive…
The deployment of mobile robots for material handling in industrial environments requires scalable coordination of large fleets in dynamic settings. This paper presents a two-layer framework that combines high-level scheduling with…
Environments with large terrain height variations present great challenges for legged robot locomotion. Drawing inspiration from fire ants' collective assembly behavior, we study strategies that can enable two ``connectable'' robots to…
Collaborative robots can relief human operators from excessive efforts during payload lifting activities. Modelling the human partner allows the design of safe and efficient collaborative strategies. In this paper, we present a control…
Robot swarms have been shown to improve the ability of individual robots by inter-robot collaboration. In this paper, we present the PuzzleBots - a low-cost robotic swarm system where robots can physically couple with each other to form…
Multi-robot transfer learning allows a robot to use data generated by a second, similar robot to improve its own behavior. The potential advantages are reducing the time of training and the unavoidable risks that exist during the training…
This work addresses the coordination problem of multiple robots with the goal of finding specific hazardous targets in an unknown area and dealing with them cooperatively. The desired behaviour for the robotic system entails multiple…
This paper presents a distributed approach for exploring and triangulating an unknown region using a multi- robot system. The objective is to produce a covering of an unknown workspace by a fixed number of robots such that the covered…
This paper addresses the problem of pushing manipulation with nonholonomic mobile robots. Pushing is a fundamental skill that enables robots to move unwieldy objects that cannot be grasped. We propose a stable pushing method that maintains…
This paper presents resource-aware algorithms for distributed inter-robot loop closure detection for applications such as collaborative simultaneous localization and mapping (CSLAM) and distributed image retrieval. In real-world scenarios,…
This paper presents a solution for the problem of optimal planning for a robot in a collaborative human-robot team, where the human supervisor is intermittently available to assist the robot in completing tasks more quickly. Specifically,…
Taking inspiration from the natural gait transition mechanism of quadrupeds, devising a good gait transition strategy is important for quadruped robots to achieve energy-efficient locomotion on various terrains and velocities. While…
In this paper, we introduce the concept of using passive arm structures with intrinsic impedance for robot-robot and human-robot collaborative carrying with quadruped robots. The concept is meant for a leader-follower task and takes a…
A new approach to the human-robot shared control of the Extra Robotic Legs (XRL) wearable augmentation system is presented. The XRL system consists of two extra legs that bear the entirety of its backpack payload, as well as some of the…