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Mobile robots with some degree of autonomy could deliver significant advantages in high-risk missions such as search and rescue and firefighting. Integrated into a human-robot team (HRT), robots could work effectively to help search…
This paper deals with the classical problem of exploring a ring by a cohort of synchronous robots. We focus on the perpetual version of this problem in which it is required that each node of the ring is visited by a robot infinitely often.…
Advanced machine learning algorithms require platforms that are extremely robust and equipped with rich sensory feedback to handle extensive trial-and-error learning without relying on strong inductive biases. Traditional robotic designs,…
A wide range of human-robot collaborative applications in diverse domains such as manufacturing, health care, the entertainment industry, and social interactions, require an autonomous robot to follow its human companion. Different working…
In the current era, people and society have grown increasingly reliant on artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. AI has the potential to drive us towards a future in which all of humanity flourishes. It also comes with substantial risks…
RL is increasingly being used to control robotic systems that interact closely with humans. This interaction raises the problem of safe RL: how to ensure that a RL-controlled robotic system never, for instance, injures a human. This problem…
Legged robots have demonstrated remarkable agility on rigid, stationary ground, but their locomotion reliability remains limited in non-inertial environments, where the supporting ground moves, tilts, or accelerates. Such conditions arise…
Robots are being designed to help people in an increasing variety of settings--but seemingly little attention has been given so far to the specific needs of women, who represent roughly half of the world's population but are highly…
The connected automated vehicle has been often touted as a technology that will become pervasive in society in the near future. One can view an automated vehicle as having Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities, being able to self-drive,…
Designing robots to support high-stakes teamwork in emergency settings presents unique challenges, including seamless integration into fast-paced environments, facilitating effective communication among team members, and adapting to rapidly…
Road vehicle travel at a reasonable speed involves some risk, even when using computer-controlled driving with failure-free hardware and perfect sensing. A fully-automated vehicle must continuously decide how to allocate this risk without a…
Socialization is an essential development skill for preschool children. In collaboration with the LEGO Group, we developed Robert Robot, a simplified robot, which enables socialization between children and facilitates shared experiences…
Automated vehicles can change the society by improved safety, mobility and fuel efficiency. However, due to the higher cost and change in business model, over the coming decades, the highly automated vehicles likely will continue to…
Assistive robotic systems have shown growing potential to improve the quality of life of those with disabilities. As researchers explore the automation of various caregiving tasks, considerations for how the technology can still preserve…
In order to safely operate around humans, robots can employ predictive models of human motion. Unfortunately, these models cannot capture the full complexity of human behavior and necessarily introduce simplifying assumptions. As a result,…
As AI systems proliferate in society, the AI community is increasingly preoccupied with the concept of AI Safety, namely the prevention of failures due to accidents that arise from an unanticipated departure of a system's behavior from…
Robust motion planning is a well-studied problem in the robotics literature, yet current algorithms struggle to operate scalably and safely in the presence of other moving agents, such as humans. This paper introduces a novel framework for…
Robot-Assisted Therapy (RAT) has successfully been used in Human Robot Interaction (HRI) research by including social robots in health-care interventions by virtue of their ability to engage human users in both social and emotional…
Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms show amazing performance in recent years, but placing RL in real-world applications such as self-driven vehicles may suffer safety problems. A self-driven vehicle moving to a target position following…
The majority of research on safety in autonomous vehicles has been conducted in structured and controlled environments. However, there is a scarcity of research on safety in unregulated pedestrian areas, especially when interacting with…