Related papers: Levitating Rigid Objects with Hidden Rods and Wire…

We propose and explore a new, general-purpose method for the implicit time integration of elastica. Key to our approach is the use of a mixed variational principle. In turn its finite element discretization leads to an efficient alternating…

Orthogonal array, a classical and effective tool for collecting data, has been flourished with its applications in modern computer experiments and engineering statistics. Driven by the wide use of computer experiments with both qualitative…

We show the existence of rigid combinatorial objects which previously were not known to exist. Specifically, for a wide range of the underlying parameters, we show the existence of non-trivial orthogonal arrays, $t$-designs, and $t$-wise…

It is essential for a robot to be able to detect revisits or loop closures for long-term visual navigation.A key insight explored in this work is that the loop-closing event inherently occurs sparsely, that is, the image currently being…

We address the problem of visually guided rearrangement planning with many movable objects, i.e., finding a sequence of actions to move a set of objects from an initial arrangement to a desired one, while relying on visual inputs coming…

Coordinated robotic manipulation of deformable linear objects (DLOs), such as ropes and cables, has been widely studied; however, handling hybrid assemblies composed of both deformable and rigid elements in constrained environments remains…

This paper introduces a novel and general method to address the problem of using a general-purpose robot manipulator with a parallel gripper to wrap a deformable linear object (DLO), called a rope, around a rigid object, called a rod,…

We study the vibrations of a hanging thin flexible rod, in which the dominant restoring force in most of the domain is tension due to the weight of the rod, while bending elasticity plays a small but non-negligible role. We consider a…

One of the most important features of tendon-driven robots is the ease of wire arrangement and the degree of freedom it affords, enabling the construction of a body that satisfies the desired characteristics by modifying the wire…

We present a method for system identification of flexible objects by measuring forces and displacement during interaction with a manipulating arm. We model the object's structure and flexibility by a chain of rigid bodies connected by…

Composite convex optimization problems which include both a nonsmooth term and a low-rank promoting term have important applications in machine learning and signal processing, such as when one wishes to recover an unknown matrix that is…

Articulated objects like doors, drawers, valves, and tools are pervasive in our everyday unstructured dynamic environments. Articulation models describe the joint nature between the different parts of an articulated object. As most of these…

With recent advances in both responsive materials and fabrication techniques it is now possible to construct integrated functional structures, composed of both structural and active materials. We investigate the robust design of such…

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…

A basic task in the design of a robotic production cell is the relative placement of robot and workpiece. The fundamental requirement is that the robot can reach all process positions; only then one can think of further optimization.…

The levitation of condensed matter in vacuum allows the study of its physical properties under extreme isolation from the environment. It also offers a venue to investigate quantum mechanics with large systems, at the transition between the…

This paper formulates an optimal control problem for a system of rigid bodies that are connected by ball joints and immersed in an irrotational and incompressible fluid. The rigid bodies can translate and rotate in three-dimensional space,…

We demonstrate that any physical object, as long as its volume is conserved when coupled with suitable operations, provides a sophisticated decision-making capability. We consider the problem of finding, as accurately and quickly as…

Designing the topology of three-dimensional structures is a challenging problem due to its memory and time consumption. In this paper, we present a robust and efficient algorithm for solving large-scale 3D topology optimization problems.…

In this work we propose algorithms to explicitly construct a conservative estimate of the configuration spaces of rigid objects in 2D and 3D. Our approach is able to detect compact path components and narrow passages in configuration space…