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Space missions are characterized by long distances, difficult or unavailable communication and high operating costs. Moreover, complexity has been constantly increasing in recent years. For this reason, improving the autonomy of space…
This paper focuses on the development of a ground-based test-bed to analyze the complexities of contact dynamics between multibody systems in space. The test-bed consists of an air-bearing platform equipped with a 7 degrees-of-freedom (one…
Reinforcement learning (RL) offers transformative potential for robotic control in space. We present the first on-orbit demonstration of RL-based autonomous control of a free-flying robot, the NASA Astrobee, aboard the International Space…
Despite the growing impact of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) across various industries, most of current available solutions lack for a robust autonomous navigation system to deal with the appearance of obstacles safely. This work presents…
This paper introduces a novel, small form-factor, aerial vehicle research platform for agile object detection, classification, tracking, and interaction tasks. General-purpose hardware components were designed to augment a given aerial…
This paper introduces MRTA-Sim, a Python/ROS2/Gazebo simulator for testing approaches to Multi-Robot Task Allocation (MRTA) problems on simulated robots in complex, indoor environments. Grid-based approaches to MRTA problems can be too…
Modular small-scale robots offer the potential for on-demand assembly and disassembly, enabling task-specific adaptation in dynamic and constrained environments. However, existing modular magnetic platforms often depend on workspace…
Field-based reactive control provides a minimalist, decentralized route to guiding robots that lack onboard computation. Such schemes are well suited to resource-limited machines like microrobots, yet implementation artifacts, limited…
Over 34,000 objects bigger than 10 cm in length are known to orbit Earth. Among them, only a small percentage are active satellites, while the rest of the population is made of dead satellites, rocket bodies, and debris that pose a…
Autonomous planetary vehicles, also known as rovers, are small autonomous vehicles equipped with a variety of sensors used to perform exploration and experiments on a planet's surface. Rovers work in a partially unknown environment, with…
Robotic on-orbit servicing (OOS) is expected to be a key technology and concept for future sustainable space exploration. This paper develops a semi-analytical model for OOS systems analysis, responding to the growing needs and ongoing…
Collaborative robots are increasingly popular for assisting humans at work and daily tasks. However, designing and setting up interfaces for human-robot collaboration is challenging, requiring the integration of multiple components, from…
Impedance-controlled robots are widely used on Earth to perform interaction-rich tasks and will be a key enabler for In-Space Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (ISAM) activities. This paper introduces the software architecture used on…
Trajectory replanning is a critical problem for multi-robot teams navigating dynamic environments. We present RLSS (Replanning using Linear Spatial Separations): a real-time trajectory replanning algorithm for cooperative multi-robot teams…
Humans seamlessly fuse anticipatory planning with immediate feedback to perform successive mobile manipulation tasks without stopping, achieving both high efficiency and reliability. Replicating this fluid and reliable behavior in robots…
We present a multirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle control (UAV) and estimation system for supporting replicable research through realistic simulations and real-world experiments. We propose a unique multi-frame localization paradigm for…
While traditional robotic systems come with a monolithic system design, reconfigurable multi-robot systems can share and shift physical resources in an on-demand fashion. Multi-robot operations can benefit from this flexibility by actively…
Fine robotic assembly, in which the parts to be assembled are small and fragile and lie in an unstructured environment, is still out of reach of today's industrial robots. The main difficulties arise in the precise localization of the parts…
Swarm robotics utilises decentralised self-organising systems to form complex collective behaviours built from the bottom-up using individuals that have limited capabilities. Previous work has shown that simple occlusion-based strategies…
Human-robot interaction will play an essential role in various industries and daily tasks, enabling robots to effectively collaborate with humans and reduce their physical workload. Most of the existing approaches for physical human-robot…