Related papers: Force Map: Learning to Predict Contact Force Distr…

Given a dataset of expert trajectories, standard imitation learning approaches typically learn a direct mapping from observations (e.g., RGB images) to actions. However, such methods often overlook the rich interplay between different…

We describe a method for performing active localization of objects in instances of visual situations. A visual situation is an abstract concept---e.g., "a boxing match", "a birthday party", "walking the dog", "waiting for a bus"---whose…

In many contact-rich tasks, force sensing plays an essential role in adapting the motion to the physical properties of the manipulated object. To enable robots to capture the underlying distribution of object properties necessary for…

Precise perception of contact interactions is essential for fine-grained manipulation skills for robots. In this paper, we present the design of feedback skills for robots that must learn to stack complex-shaped objects on top of each other…

The advent of tactile sensors in robotics has sparked many ideas on how robots can leverage direct contact measurements of their environment interactions to improve manipulation tasks. An important line of research in this regard is that of…

Grasping objects of different shapes and sizes - a foundational, effortless skill for humans - remains a challenging task in robotics. Although model-based approaches can predict stable grasp configurations for known object models, they…

Grasping the same object in different postures is often necessary, especially when handling tools or stacked items. Due to unknown object properties and changes in grasping posture, the required grasping force is uncertain and variable.…

In order to plan a safe maneuver an autonomous vehicle must accurately perceive its environment, and understand the interactions among traffic participants. In this paper, we aim to learn scene-consistent motion forecasts of complex urban…

Precise robotic grasping is important for many industrial applications, such as assembly and palletizing, where the location of the object needs to be controlled and known. However, achieving precise grasps is challenging due to noise in…

The ability to interact and understand the environment is a fundamental prerequisite for a wide range of applications from robotics to augmented reality. In particular, predicting how deformable objects will react to applied forces in real…

This paper proposes a learning-from-demonstration method using probability densities on the workspaces of robot manipulators. The method, named "PRobabilistically-Informed Motion Primitives (PRIMP)", learns the probability distribution of…

Soft robot manipulators have the potential for deployment in delicate environments to perform complex manipulation tasks. However, existing obstacle detection and avoidance methods do not consider limits on the forces that manipulators may…

Visual imitation learning provides a framework for learning complex manipulation behaviors by leveraging human demonstrations. However, current interfaces for imitation such as kinesthetic teaching or teleoperation prohibitively restrict…

Object co-occurrences provide a key cue for finding objects successfully and efficiently in unfamiliar environments. Typically, one looks for cups in kitchens and views fridges as evidence of being in a kitchen. Such priors have also been…

Fabric manipulation is a long-standing challenge in robotics due to the enormous state space and complex dynamics. Learning approaches stand out as promising for this domain as they allow us to learn behaviours directly from data. Most…

Wearable assistive devices are increasingly becoming softer. Modelling their interface with human tissue is necessary to capture transmission of dynamic assistance. However, their nonlinear and compliant nature makes both physical modeling…

Identifying the physical properties of the surrounding environment is essential for robotic locomotion and navigation to deal with non-geometric hazards, such as slippery and deformable terrains. It would be of great benefit for robots to…

Planning for robotic manipulation requires reasoning about the changes a robot can affect on objects. When such interactions can be modelled analytically, as in domains with rigid objects, efficient planning algorithms exist. However, in…

Handovers frequently occur in our social environments, making it imperative for a collaborative robotic system to master the skill of handover. In this work, we aim to investigate the relationship between the grip force variation for a…

Humans demonstrate an impressive ability to acquire and generalize manipulation "tricks." Even from a single demonstration, such as using soup ladles to reach for distant objects, we can apply this skill to new scenarios involving different…