Related papers: Extrinsic Contact Sensing with Relative-Motion Tra…
Multi-legged elongate robots hold promise for maneuvering through complex environments. Prior work has demonstrated that reliable locomotion can be achieved using open-loop body undulation and foot placement on rugose terrain. However,…
Accurately modeling local surface properties of objects is crucial to many robotic applications, from grasping to material recognition. Surface properties like friction are however difficult to estimate, as visual observation of the object…
Based on the convex force-motion polynomial model for quasi-static sliding, we derive the kinematic contact model to determine the contact modes and instantaneous object motion on a supporting surface given a position controlled…
The images captured by vision-based tactile sensors carry information about high-resolution tactile fields, such as the distribution of the contact forces applied to their soft sensing surface. However, extracting the information encoded in…
Tactile perception is important for robotic systems that interact with the world through touch. Touch is an active sense in which tactile measurements depend on the contact properties of an interaction--e.g., velocity, force,…
Data-driven approaches to tactile sensing aim to overcome the complexity of accurately modeling contact with soft materials. However, their widespread adoption is impaired by concerns about data efficiency and the capability to generalize…
Constrained objects, such as doors and drawers are often complex and share a similar structure in the human environment. A robot needs to interact accurately with constrained objects to safely and successfully complete a task. Learning from…
This paper analyses the dynamic response of a robot when subject to an external force that is applied to its Center of Mass (CoM). The Ratio of Transmission of Motion (RoToM) is proposed as a novel indicator of what part of the applied…
Retrieving rich contact information from robotic tactile sensing has been a challenging, yet significant task for the effective perception of object properties that the robot interacts with. This work is dedicated to developing an algorithm…
Multimodal tactile sensing could potentially enable robots to improve their performance at manipulation tasks by rapidly discriminating between task-relevant objects. Data-driven approaches to this tactile perception problem show promise,…
Common methods for learning robot dynamics assume motion is continuous, causing unrealistic model predictions for systems undergoing discontinuous impact and stiction behavior. In this work, we resolve this conflict with a smooth, implicit…
Many manipulation tasks require the robot to control the contact between a grasped compliant tool and the environment, e.g. scraping a frying pan with a spatula. However, modeling tool-environment interaction is difficult, especially when…
Localizing and tracking the pose of robotic grippers are necessary skills for manipulation tasks. However, the manipulators with imprecise kinematic models (e.g. low-cost arms) or manipulators with unknown world coordinates (e.g. poor…
Perception using whisker-inspired tactile sensors currently faces a major challenge: the lack of active control in robots based on direct contact information from the whisker. To accurately reconstruct object contours, it is crucial for the…
The tactile sensation of clothing is critical to wearer comfort. To reveal physical properties that make clothing comfortable, systematic collection of tactile data during sliding motion is required. We propose a robotic arm-based system…
This work presents an approach for modelling and tracking previously unseen objects for robotic grasping tasks. Using the motion of objects in a scene, our approach segments rigid entities from the scene and continuously tracks them to…
Robotic manipulation tasks such as inserting a key into a lock or plugging a USB device into a port can fail when visual perception is insufficient to detect misalignment. In these situations, touch sensing is crucial for the robot to…
Rich contact perception is crucial for robotic manipulation, yet traditional tactile skins remain expensive and complex to integrate. This paper presents a scalable alternative: high-accuracy whole-body touch localization via vibro-acoustic…
Robots often interact with the world via attached parts such as wheels, joints, or appendages. In many systems, these interactions, and the manner in which they lead to locomotion, can be understood using the machinery of geometric…
Contact-rich manipulation involves kinematic constraints on the task motion, typically with discrete transitions between these constraints during the task. Allowing the robot to detect and reason about these contact constraints can support…