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This article presents a fully autonomous aerial masonry construction framework using heterogeneous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), supported by experimental validation. Two specialized UAVs were developed for the task: (i) a brick-carrier…
Active systems of self-propelled agents, e.g., birds, fish, and bacteria, can organize their collective motion into myriad autonomous behaviors. Ubiquitous in nature and across length scales, such phenomena are also amenable to artificial…
This paper presents a novel autonomous robotic assembly framework for constructing stable structures without relying on predefined architectural blueprints. Instead of following fixed plans, construction tasks are defined through targets…
Collaborative robots must simultaneously be safe enough to operate in close proximity to human operators and powerful enough to assist users in industrial tasks such as lifting heavy equipment. The requirement for safety necessitates that…
"Smart cities" is the trendy rubric of modern urban projects that require new innovative ideas to attain the desired perfection in many fields to change our life for the better. In this context, a new innovative application will be…
Autonomous assembly has been a desired functionality of many intelligent robot systems. We study a new challenging assembly task, designing and constructing a bridge without a blueprint. In this task, the robot needs to first design a…
The study of elastic structures embedded with fluid-filled cavities received considerable attention in fields such as autonomous materials, sensors, actuators, and smart systems. This work studies an elastic beam embedded with a set of…
This paper presents aims at mobility improvement of flexible underwater robots. For this purpose, a novel propulsion method using planar structural vibration pattern is proposed, and tested on two kinds of prototypes. The result of…
Bio-inspired vehicles are currently leading the way in the quest to produce a vehicle capable of flight and underwater navigation. However, a fully functional vehicle has not yet been realized. We present the first fully functional vehicle…
We present a novel concept of a heterogeneous, distributed platform for autonomous 3D construction. The platform is composed of two types of robots acting in a coordinated and complementary fashion: (i) A collection of communicating smart…
The emerging field of passive macro-scale tile-based self-assembly (TBSA) shows promise in enabling effective manufacturing processes by harnessing TBSA's intrinsic parallelism. However, current TBSA methodologies still do not fulfill their…
This paper presents a solution for the autonomous exploration and inspection of Ballast Water Tanks (BWTs) of marine vessels using aerial robots. Ballast tank compartments are critical for a vessel's safety and correspond to confined…
Imagine a robot that can assemble a functional product from the individual parts presented in any configuration to the robot. Designing such a robotic system is a complex problem which presents several open challenges. To bypass these…
In this paper we present algorithms for collective construction systems in which a large number of autonomous mobile robots trans- port modular building elements to construct a desired structure. We focus on building block structures…
Leveraging background fluid flows for propulsion has the potential to enhance the range and speed of autonomous aerial and underwater vehicles. In this work, we demonstrate experimentally a fully autonomous strategy for exploiting vortex…
This research introduces a novel hydrofoil-based propulsion framework for unmanned aquatic robots, inspired by the undulating locomotion observed in select aquatic species. The proposed system incorporates a camber-modulating mechanism to…
As labor shortages and productivity stagnation increasingly challenge the construction industry, automation has become essential for sustainable infrastructure development. This paper presents an autonomous payload transportation system as…
Swarms of autonomous surface vehicles equipped with environmental sensors and decentralized communications bring a new wave of attractive possibilities for the monitoring of dynamic features in oceans and other waterbodies. However, a key…
This paper presents an autonomous control framework for articulated boom cranes performing prefabricated block assembly in construction environments. The key challenge addressed is precise placement control under passive joint dynamics that…
Fixation of structural parts to concrete is a repetitive, heavy-duty, and time-consuming task that requires automation due to the lack of skilled construction workers. Previously developed automation techniques have not achieved the…