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Soft robotics hold promise in the development of safe yet powered assistive wearable devices for infants. Key to this is the development of closed-loop controllers that can help regulate pneumatic pressure in the device's actuators in an…
As robots increasingly become part of shared human spaces, their movements must transcend basic functionality by incorporating expressive qualities to enhance engagement and communication. This paper introduces a movement-centered design…
Robot feet are crucial for maintaining dynamic stability and propelling the body during walking, especially on uneven terrains. Traditionally, robot feet were mostly designed as flat and stiff pieces of metal, which meets its limitations…
Deformable object manipulation remains a challenging task in robotics research. Conventional techniques for parameter inference and state estimation typically rely on a precise definition of the state space and its dynamics. While this is…
Synergistic prostheses enable the coordinated movement of the human-prosthetic arm, as required by activities of daily living. This is achieved by coupling the motion of the prosthesis to the human command, such as the residual limb…
An accurate, physically-based, and differentiable model of soft robots can unlock downstream applications in optimal control. The Finite Element Method (FEM) is an expressive approach for modeling highly deformable structures such as…
This paper presents an improved tactile sensor using a piezoelectric bimorph able to differentiate soft materials with similar mechanical characteristics. The final aim is to develop intelligent surgical tools for brain tumour resection…
The motion of robots and objects in our world is often highly dependent upon contact. When contact is expected but does not occur or when contact is not expected but does occur, robot behavior diverges from plan, often disastrously. This…
Unlike the rigid, high-volume automation found in industry, academic research requires process flexibility that has historically relied on variable manual operations. This hinders the fabrication of advanced, complex devices. We propose to…
In the last two decades the scientific community has shown a great interest in understanding and shaping the interaction mechanisms between humans and robots. The interaction implies communication between two dyadic agents and, if the type…
When humans physically interact with robots, we need the robots to be both safe and performant. Series elastic actuators (SEAs) fundamentally advance safety by introducing compliant actuation. On the one hand, adding a spring mitigates the…
Robotic palpation relies on force sensing, but force signals in soft-tissue environments are variable and cannot reliably reveal subtle subsurface features. We present a compact multimodal sensor that integrates high-resolution vision-based…
Objective: In this work we address limitations in state-of-the-art ultrasound robots by designing and integrating a novel soft robotic system for ultrasound imaging. It employs the inherent qualities of soft fluidic actuators to establish…
Deformable solid objects such as clay or dough are prevalent in industrial and home environments. However, robotic manipulation of such objects has largely remained unexplored in literature due to the high complexity involved in…
We present a method for system identification of flexible objects by measuring forces and displacement during interaction with a manipulating arm. We model the object's structure and flexibility by a chain of rigid bodies connected by…
The use of autonomous robots for assistance tasks in hospitals has the potential to free up qualified staff and im-prove patient care. However, the ubiquity of deformable and transparent objects in hospital settings poses signif-icant…
The requirements for accurate numerical simulation are increasing constantly. Modern high precision physics experiments now exceed the achievable numerical accuracy of standard commercial and scientific simulation tools. One example are…
Recently, industrial robots plays a significant role in intelligent manufacturing. Hence, it is an urgent issue to ensure the robot with the high positioning precision. To address this hot issue, a novel calibration method based on an…
In the human hand, high-density contact information provided by afferent neurons is essential for many human grasping and manipulation capabilities. In contrast, robotic tactile sensors, including the state-of-the-art SynTouch BioTac, are…
Assistive robots for healthcare have seen a growing demand due to the great potential of relieving medical practitioners from routine jobs. In this paper, we investigate the development of an optimization-based control framework for an…