Related papers: Characterising the take-off dynamics and energy ef…
In this paper, we consider a general task of jumping varying distances and heights for a quadrupedal robot in noisy environments, such as off of uneven terrain and with variable robot dynamics parameters. To accurately jump in such…
Soft machines typically exhibit slow locomotion speed and low manipulation strength because of intrinsic limitations of soft materials. Here, we present a generic design principle that harnesses mechanical instability for a variety of…
In this paper, we present a comprehensive analysis and discussion of energy consumption in agricultural robots. Robots are emerging as a promising solution to address food production and agroecological challenges, offering potential…
As robotic swarm systems emerge, it is increasingly important to provide strong guarantees on energy consumption and safety to maximize system performance. One approach to achieve these guarantees is through constraint-driven control, where…
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.…
Faced with complex and unstructured construction environments, wheeled and tracked robots exhibit significant limitations in terrain adaptability and flexibility, making it difficult to meet the requirements of autonomous operation.…
Hybrid aerial--ground robots offer both traversability and endurance, but stair-like discontinuities create a trade-off: wheels alone often stall at edges, while flight is energy-hungry for small height gains. We propose an energy-aware…
Worm-inspired robots provide an effective locomotion strategy for constrained environments by combining cyclic body deformation with alternating anchoring. For compliant robots, however, the interaction between deformable anchoring…
Characterizing forces on deformable objects intruding into sand and soil requires understanding the solid and fluid-like responses of such substrates and their effect on the state of the object. The most detailed studies of intrusion in dry…
Jumping is an efficient locomotion strategy to traverse cluttered, uneven, or unstable environments in nature, yet replicating continuous, autonomous leaping in soft robots remains challenging due to limited energy storage and reliance on…
We present a versatile framework for the computational co-design of legged robots and dynamic maneuvers. Current state-of-the-art approaches are typically based on random sampling or concurrent optimization. We propose a novel bilevel…
The current state-of-the-art gradient-based optimisation frameworks are able to produce impressive dynamic manoeuvres such as linear and rotational jumps. However, these methods, which optimise over the full rigid-body dynamics of the…
Drone delivery is rapidly emerging as a cost-effective and energy efficient alternative for last-mile delivery. Unlike ground vehicles, a drone's energy consumption depends on its payload in addition to travel distance. This creates a…
Energy efficiency is critical to the success of legged robotics. Efficiency is lost through wasted energy during locomotion and standing. Including elastic elements has been shown to reduce movement costs, while including breaks can reduce…
In this study, one-dimensional systems of masses connected by springs, i.e., spring-chain systems, are investigated numerically. The average kinetic energy of chain-end particles of these systems is larger than that of other particles,…
The heavy-load legged robot has strong load carrying capacity and can adapt to various unstructured terrains. But the large weight results in higher requirements for motion stability and environmental perception ability. In order to utilize…
We propose an online motion planner for legged robot locomotion with the primary objective of achieving energy efficiency. The conceptual idea is to leverage a placement set of footstep positions based on the robot's body position to…
This work presents a control-oriented structural design approach for a 2-DOF underactuated mechanical system, with the purpose of generating an optimal oscillatory behavior of the end-effector. To achieve the desired periodic motion, we…
Legged robots must achieve both robust locomotion and energy efficiency to be practical in real-world environments. Yet controllers trained in simulation often fail to transfer reliably, and most existing approaches neglect…
This paper aims to identify in a practical manner unknown physical parameters, such as mechanical models of actuated robot links, which are critical in dynamical robotic tasks. Key features include the use of an off-the-shelf physics engine…