Related papers: HARPS: An Online POMDP Framework for Human-Assiste…
Robots operating in complex and unknown environments frequently require geometric-semantic representations of the environment to safely perform their tasks. While inferring the environment, they must account for many possible scenarios when…
Robots often face challenges in domestic environments where visual feedback is ineffective, such as retrieving objects obstructed by occlusions or finding a light switch in the dark. In these cases, utilizing contacts to localize the target…
Current methods of deploying robots that operate in dynamic, uncertain environments, such as Uncrewed Aerial Systems in search \& rescue missions, require nearly continuous human supervision for vehicle guidance and operation. These methods…
In search applications, autonomous unmanned vehicles must be able to efficiently reacquire and localize mobile targets that can remain out of view for long periods of time in large spaces. As such, all available information sources must be…
Robot planning in partially observable domains is difficult, because a robot needs to estimate the current state and plan actions at the same time. When the domain includes many objects, reasoning about the objects and their relationships…
Autonomous navigation in unfamiliar environments requires robots to simultaneously explore, localise, and plan under uncertainty, without relying on predefined maps or extensive training. We present Active Inference MAPping and Planning…
Building deep reinforcement learning agents that can generalize and adapt to unseen environments remains a fundamental challenge for AI. This paper describes progresses on this challenge in the context of man-made environments, which are…
When mobile robots maneuver near people, they run the risk of rudely blocking their paths; but not all people behave the same around robots. People that have not noticed the robot are the most difficult to predict. This paper investigates…
In this work, we propose a novel shared autonomy framework to operate articulated robots. We provide strategies to design both the task-oriented hierarchical planning and policy shaping algorithms for efficient human-robot interactions in…
Simultaneous localization and Planning (SLAP) is a crucial ability for an autonomous robot operating under uncertainty. In its most general form, SLAP induces a continuous POMDP (partially-observable Markov decision process), which needs to…
A crucial challenge to efficient and robust motion planning for autonomous vehicles is understanding the intentions of the surrounding agents. Ignoring the intentions of the other agents in dynamic environments can lead to risky or…
For widespread deployment in domains characterized by partial observability, non-deterministic actions and unforeseen changes, robots need to adapt sensing, processing and interaction with humans to the tasks at hand. While robots typically…
A limitation for collaborative robots (cobots) is their lack of ability to adapt to human partners, who typically exhibit an immense diversity of behaviors. We present an autonomous framework as a cobot's real-time decision-making mechanism…
Mapping and navigation have gone hand-in-hand since long before robots existed. Maps are a key form of communication, allowing someone who has never been somewhere to nonetheless navigate that area successfully. In the context of…
Modern intelligent and autonomous robotic applications often require robots to have more information about their environment than that provided by traditional occupancy grid maps. For example, a robot tasked to perform autonomous semantic…
Hidden Markov models (HMMs) and partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) form a useful tool for modeling dynamical systems. They are particularly useful for representing environments such as road networks and office…
Human-robot interaction requires a common understanding of the operational environment, which can be provided by a representation that blends geometric and symbolic knowledge: a semantic map. Through a semantic map the robot can interpret…
Maps provide robots with crucial environmental knowledge, thereby enabling them to perform interactive tasks effectively. Easily accessing accurate abstract-to-detailed geometric and semantic concepts from maps is crucial for robots to make…
Adaptive Informative Path Planning (AIPP) problems model an agent tasked with obtaining information subject to resource constraints in unknown, partially observable environments. Existing work on AIPP has focused on representing…
Manipulation in confined and cluttered environments remains a significant challenge due to partial observability and complex configuration spaces. Effective manipulation in such environments requires an intelligent exploration strategy to…