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High-fidelity physics simulations are powerful tools in the design and optimization of charged particle accelerators. However, the computational burden of these simulations often limits their use in practice for design optimization and…

This paper introduces a new technique for learning probabilistic models of mass and friction distributions of unknown objects, and performing robust sliding actions by using the learned models. The proposed method is executed in two…

High-quality and representative data is essential for both Imitation Learning (IL)- and Reinforcement Learning (RL)-based motion planning tasks. For real robots, it is challenging to collect enough qualified data either as demonstrations…

A rigid-flexible manipulator may be assigned tasks in a moving environment where the winds or vibrations affect the position and/or orientation of surface of operation. Consequently, losses of the contact and perhaps degradation of the…

This study proposes and examines a novel approach to generate peristaltic-like locomotion in a segmented origami robot. Specifically, we demonstrate the use of multi-stability embedded in origami skeleton to eliminate the need for multiple…

Increasingly, industrial robots are being used in production systems. This is because they are highly flexible machines and economically competitive with human labor. The problem is that they are difficult to program. Thus, manufacturing…

This work provides a complete framework for the simulation, co-optimization, and sim-to-real transfer of the design and control of soft legged robots. The compliance of soft robots provides a form of "mechanical intelligence" -- the ability…

Rigid foldability allows an origami pattern to fold about crease lines without twisting or stretching component panels. It enables folding of rigid materials, facilitating the design of foldable structures. Recent study shows that rigid…

Deformable object manipulation (DOM) is an emerging research problem in robotics. The ability to manipulate deformable objects endows robots with higher autonomy and promises new applications in the industrial, services, and healthcare…

We prove several hardness results on folding origami crease patterns. Flat-folding finite crease patterns is fixed-parameter tractable in the ply of the folded pattern (how many layers overlap at any point) and the treewidth of an…

Shape-morphing structures have the capability to transform from one state to another, making them highly valuable in engineering applications. In this study, it is propose a two-stage shape-morphing framework inspired by kirigami structures…

Planning accurate manipulation for deformable objects requires prediction of their state. The prediction is often complicated by a loss of stability that may result in collapse of the deformable object. In this work, stability of a fabric…

Internal computational models of physical bodies are fundamental to the ability of robots and animals alike to plan and control their actions. These "self-models" allow robots to consider outcomes of multiple possible future actions,…

We present a complete framework for fast motion planning of non-holonomic autonomous mobile robots in highly complex but structured environments. Conventional grid-based planners struggle with scalability, while many kinematically-feasible…

Precise trajectory tracking for legged robots can be challenging due to their high degrees of freedom, unmodeled nonlinear dynamics, or random disturbances from the environment. A commonly adopted solution to overcome these challenges is to…

Thin elastic sheets bend easily and, if they are patterned with cuts, can deform in sophisticated ways. Here we show that carefully tuning the location and arrangement of cuts within thin sheets enables the design of mechanical actuators…

Kirigami is an increasingly useful fabrication method to produce shape-programmable metamaterial structures. However, inverse design remains difficult because deployment is nonlinear, and feasible cut layouts must satisfy discrete…

Legged robots, specifically quadrupeds, are becoming increasingly attractive for industrial applications such as inspection. However, to leave the laboratory and to become useful to an end user requires reliability in harsh conditions. From…

Robotic manipulation research has investigated contact-rich problems and strategies that require robots to intentionally collide with their environment, to accomplish tasks that cannot be handled by traditional collision-free solutions. By…

In this paper, we present an integrated solution to memory-efficient environment modeling by an autonomous mobile robot equipped with a laser range-finder. Majority of nowadays approaches to autonomous environment modeling, called…