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On-orbit servicing represents a critical frontier in future aerospace engineering, with the manipulation of dynamic non-cooperative targets serving as a key technology. In microgravity environments, objects are typically free-floating,…

We address the problem of motion planning for a robotic manipulator with the task to place a grasped object in a cluttered environment. In this task, we need to locate a collision-free pose for the object that a) facilitates the stable…

Accurate depth estimation remains an open problem for robotic manipulation; even state of the art techniques including structured light and LiDAR sensors fail on reflective or transparent surfaces. We address this problem by training a…

In modern production facilities industrial robots and humans are supposed to interact sharing a common working area. In order to avoid collisions, the distances between objects need to be measured conservatively which can be done by a…

In this paper, we introduce a probabilistic approach to risk assessment of robot systems by focusing on the impact of uncertainties. While various approaches to identifying systematic hazards (e.g., bugs, design flaws, etc.) can be found in…

Sampling-based motion planning techniques have emerged as an efficient algorithmic paradigm for solving complex motion planning problems. These approaches use a set of probing samples to construct an implicit graph representation of the…

Mutual localization provides a consensus of reference frame as an essential basis for cooperation in multirobot systems. Previous works have developed certifiable and robust solvers for relative transformation estimation between each pair…

Robots are increasingly used to carry out critical missions in extreme environments that are hazardous for humans. This requires a high degree of operational autonomy under uncertain conditions, and poses new challenges for assuring the…

Many keyhole interventions rely on bi-manual handling of surgical instruments, forcing the main surgeon to rely on a second surgeon to act as a camera assistant. In addition to the burden of excessively involving surgical staff, this may…

Robotic systems in manufacturing applications commonly assume known object geometry and appearance. This simplifies the task for the 3D perception algorithms and allows the manipulation to be more deterministic. However, those approaches…

Intraoperative segmentation and tracking of minimally invasive instruments is a prerequisite for computer- and robotic-assisted surgery. Since additional hardware like tracking systems or the robot encoders are cumbersome and lack accuracy,…

When developing control laws for robotic systems, the principle factor when examining their performance is choosing inputs that allow smooth tracking to a reference input. In the context of robotic manipulation, this involves translating an…

As robots are being increasingly used in close proximity to humans and objects, it is imperative that robots operate safely and efficiently under real-world conditions. Yet, the environment is seldom known perfectly. Noisy sensors and…

Diagnostic activities, such as ultrasound scans and palpation, are relatively low-cost. They play a crucial role in the early detection of health problems and in assessing their progression. However, they are also error-prone activities,…

Pose estimation is a widely explored problem, enabling many robotic tasks such as grasping and manipulation. In this paper, we tackle the problem of pose estimation for objects that exhibit rotational symmetry, which are common in man-made…

This study presents an integrated framework for enhancing the safety and operational efficiency of robotic arms in laparoscopic surgery by addressing key challenges in collision detection and minimum distance estimation. By combining…

Body posture influences human and robots performance in manipulation tasks, as appropriate poses facilitate motion or force exertion along different axes. In robotics, manipulability ellipsoids arise as a powerful descriptor to analyze,…

Robot-world, hand-eye calibration is the problem of determining the transformation between the robot end-effector and a camera, as well as the transformation between the robot base and the world coordinate system. This relationship has been…

Robotic surgery and novel surgical instrumentation present great potentials towards safer, more accurate and consistent minimally invasive surgery. However, their adoption is dependent to the access to training facilities and extensive…

Precise calibration is a must for high reliance 3D computer vision algorithms. A challenging case is when the camera is behind a protective glass or transparent object: due to refraction, the image is heavily distorted; the pinhole camera…