Related papers: ROMR: A ROS-based Open-source Mobile Robot
Current robot platforms available for research are either very expensive or unable to handle the abuse of exploratory controls in reinforcement learning. We develop RealAnt, a minimal low-cost physical version of the popular `Ant' benchmark…
In the EU-funded MuMMER project, we have developed a social robot designed to interact naturally and flexibly with users in public spaces such as a shopping mall. We present the latest version of the robot system developed during the…
We introduce Kleinkram, a free and open-source system designed to solve the challenge of managing massive, unstructured robotic datasets. Designed as a modular, on-premises cloud solution, Kleinkram enables scalable storage, indexing, and…
Soft robots offer remarkable adaptability and safety advantages over rigid robots, but modeling their complex, nonlinear dynamics remains challenging. Strain-based models have recently emerged as a promising candidate to describe such…
Parallel robots are capable of high-speed manipulation and have become essential tools in the industry. The proximal placement of their motors and the low weight of their end effectors make them ideal for generating highly dynamic motion.…
This paper introduces PyRobot, an open-source robotics framework for research and benchmarking. PyRobot is a light-weight, high-level interface on top of ROS that provides a consistent set of hardware independent mid-level APIs to control…
Accurate altitude estimation and reliable floor recognition are critical for mobile robot localization and navigation within complex multi-storey environments. In this paper, we present a robust, low-cost vertical estimation framework…
Modular Reconfigurable Robots (MRRs) represent an exciting path forward for industrial robotics, opening up new possibilities for robot design. Compared to monolithic manipulators, they promise greater flexibility, improved maintainability,…
Over the past few years, a number of successful humanoid platforms have been developed, including the Nao and the DARwIn-OP, both of which are used by many research groups for the investigation of bipedal walking, full-body motions, and…
The limited onboard energy of autonomous mobile robots poses a tremendous challenge for practical deployment. Hence, efficient computing solutions are imperative. A crucial shortcoming of state-of-the-art computing solutions is that they…
Underwater marine inspections for ship hull or marine debris, etc. are one of the vital measures carried out to ensure the safety of marine structures and underwater species. This work details the design, development and qualification of a…
Shake tables serve as a critical tool for simulating earthquake events and testing the response of structures to seismic forces. However, existing shake tables are either expensive or proprietary. This paper presents the design and…
Robotic Manipulation Surfaces (RMS) manipulate objects by deforming the surface on which they rest, offering safe, parallel handling of diverse and fragile items. However, existing designs face a fundamental tradeoff: achieving fine control…
Robots are becoming more and more commonplace in many industry settings. This successful adoption can be partly attributed to (1) their increasingly affordable cost and (2) the possibility of developing intelligent, software-driven robots.…
Numerous cutting-edge scientific technologies originate at the laboratory scale, but transitioning them to practical industry applications is a formidable challenge. Traditional pilot projects at intermediate scales are costly and…
Efficiently delivering items to an ongoing surgery in a hospital operating room can be a matter of life or death. In modern hospital settings, delivery robots have successfully transported bulk items between rooms and floors. However,…
Dexterous object manipulation remains an open problem in robotics, despite the rapid progress in machine learning during the past decade. We argue that a hindrance is the high cost of experimentation on real systems, in terms of both time…
Low-cost autonomous Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) have the potential to help humans by simplifying and speeding up complex tasks that require their interaction with the environment, such as construction, package delivery, and search and…
A key requirement in robotics is the ability to simultaneously self-localize and map a previously unknown environment, relying primarily on onboard sensing and computation. Achieving fully onboard accurate simultaneous localization and…
Deploying robots in human-shared spaces requires understanding interactions among nearby agents and objects. Modelling cause-and-effect relations through causal inference aids in predicting human behaviours and anticipating robot…