Related papers: Sim2Real for Soft Robotic Fish via Differentiable …
Obtaining dynamics models is essential for robotics to achieve accurate model-based controllers and simulators for planning. The dynamics models are typically obtained using model specification of the manufacturer or simple numerical…
Grasping deformable objects is not well researched due to the complexity in modelling and simulating the dynamic behavior of such objects. However, with the rapid development of physics-based simulators that support soft bodies, the…
In recent years, soft robotics simulators have evolved to offer various functionalities, including the simulation of different material types (e.g., elastic, hyper-elastic) and actuation methods (e.g., pneumatic, cable-driven, servomotor).…
Rigid-bodied robots often lack compliance needed to adapt to unstructured environments, while fully soft robots, though highly adaptable, struggle with scalability and load capacity. In nature, musculoskeletal systems balance strength and…
Design of robots at the small scale is a trial-and-error based process, which is costly and time-consuming. There are no good dynamic simulation tools to predict the motion or performance of a microrobot as it moves against a substrate. At…
Sim-to-real transfer remains a significant challenge in soft robotics due to the unpredictability introduced by common manufacturing processes such as 3D printing and molding. These processes often result in deviations from simulated…
The manual design of soft robots and their controllers is notoriously challenging, but it could be augmented---or, in some cases, entirely replaced---by automated design tools. Machine learning algorithms can automatically propose, test,…
Simulating soft robots in cluttered environments remains an open problem due to the challenge of capturing complex dynamics and interactions with the environment. Furthermore, fast simulation is desired for quickly exploring robot behaviors…
The precision, stability, and performance of lightweight high-strength steel structures in heavy machinery is affected by their highly nonlinear dynamics. This, in turn, makes control more difficult, simulation more computationally…
To date, the simulation of organ deformations for applications like therapy planning or image-guided interventions is calculated by solving the elastodynamics equations. While efficient solvers have been proposed for fast simulations,…
Accurately manipulating articulated objects is a challenging yet important task for real robot applications. In this paper, we present a novel framework called Sim2Real$^2$ to enable the robot to manipulate an unseen articulated object to…
Deformable linear objects (DLOs), such as rods, cables, and ropes, play important roles in daily life. However, manipulation of DLOs is challenging as large geometrically nonlinear deformations may occur during the manipulation process.…
We present a differentiable pipeline for simulating the motion of objects that represent their geometry as a continuous density field parameterized as a deep network. This includes Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs), and other related models.…
Dynamic state representation learning is an important task in robot learning. Latent space that can capture dynamics related information has wide application in areas such as accelerating model free reinforcement learning, closing the…
Inspired by the octopus and other animals living in water, soft robots should naturally lend themselves to underwater operations, as supported by encouraging validations in deep water scenarios. This work deals with equipping soft arms with…
Developing robot controllers in a simulated environment is advantageous but transferring the controllers to the target environment presents challenges, often referred to as the "sim-to-real gap". We present a method for continuous…
The optimal stiffness for soft swimming robots depends on swimming speed, which means no single stiffness can maximise efficiency in all swimming conditions. Tunable stiffness would produce an increased range of high-efficiency swimming…
Understanding and modeling animal behavior is essential for studying collective motion, decision-making, and bio-inspired robotics. Yet, evaluating the accuracy of behavioral models still often relies on offline comparisons to static…
Intelligent agents need a physical understanding of the world to predict the impact of their actions in the future. While learning-based models of the environment dynamics have contributed to significant improvements in sample efficiency…
Soft robots have garnered significant attention due to their promising applications across various domains. A hallmark of these systems is their bilayer structure, where strain mismatch caused by differential expansion between layers…