Related papers: Connected Assembly and Reconfiguration by Finite A…
Prehensile object rearrangement in cluttered and confined spaces has broad applications but is also challenging. For instance, rearranging products in a grocery shelf means that the robot cannot directly access all objects and has limited…
We investigate motion planning algorithms for the assembly of shapes in the \emph{tilt model} in which unit-square tiles move in a grid world under the influence of uniform external forces and self-assemble according to certain rules. We…
This paper proposes a distributed on-orbit spacecraft assembly algorithm, where future spacecraft can assemble modules with different functions on orbit to form a spacecraft structure with specific functions. This form of spacecraft…
We present a suite of algorithmic techniques for handling substitution tilings by treating a tile's hierarchy of supertiles in a purely combinatorial fashion using finite state automata. The resulting techniques are very convenient for…
Formal design of embedded and cyber-physical systems relies on mathematical modeling. In this paper, we consider the model class of hybrid automata whose dynamics are defined by affine differential equations. Given a set of time-series…
Effectively rearranging heterogeneous objects constitutes a high-utility skill that an intelligent robot should master. Whereas significant work has been devoted to the grasp synthesis of heterogeneous objects, little attention has been…
Assembly planning is a fundamental problem in robotics and automation, which involves designing a sequence of motions to bring the separate constituent parts of a product into their final placement in the product. Assembly planning is…
A metamorphic robotic system is an aggregate of homogeneous robot units which can individually and selectively locomote in such a way as to change the global shape of the system. We introduce a mathematical framework for defining and…
This work studies rearrangement problems involving the sorting of robots or objects in stack-like containers, which can be accessed only from one side. Two scenarios are considered: one where every robot or object needs to reach a…
Object rearrangement is a widely-applicable and challenging task for robots. Geometric constraints must be carefully examined to avoid collisions and combinatorial issues arise as the number of objects increases. This work studies the…
Stiffness degradation and progressive failure of composite laminates are complex processes involving evolution and multi-mode interactions among fiber fractures, intra-ply matrix cracks and inter-ply delaminations. This paper presents a…
Planning motions for two robot arms to move an object collaboratively is a difficult problem, mainly because of the closed-chain constraint, which arises whenever two robot hands simultaneously grasp a single rigid object. In this paper, we…
The pebble-motion on graphs is a subcategory of multi-agent pathfinding problems dealing with moving multiple pebble-like objects from a node to a node in a graph with a constraint that only one pebble can occupy one node at a given time.…
The automation of composite sheet layup is essential to meet the increasing demand for composite materials in various industries. However, draping plans for the robotic layup of composite sheets are not robust. A plan that works well under…
Planning trajectories for nonholonomic systems is difficult and computationally expensive. When facing unexpected events, it may therefore be preferable to deform in some way the initially planned trajectory rather than to re-plan entirely…
When modeling complex robot systems such as branched robots, whose kinematic structures are a tree, current techniques often require modeling the whole structure from scratch, even when partial models for the branches are available. This…
Coordinating the motion of multiple agents in constrained environments is a fundamental challenge in robotics, motion planning, and scheduling. A motivating example involves $n$ robotic arms, each represented as a line segment. The…
Rearranging objects on a planar surface arises in a variety of robotic applications, such as product packaging. Using two arms can improve efficiency but introduces new computational challenges. This paper studies the structure of dual-arm…
Autonomous assembly is a crucial capability for robots in many applications. For this task, several problems such as obstacle avoidance, motion planning, and actuator control have been extensively studied in robotics. However, when it comes…
This work presents a method to adaptively refine reduced-order models \emph{a posteriori} without requiring additional full-order-model solves. The technique is analogous to mesh-adaptive $h$-refinement: it enriches the reduced-basis space…