Related papers: Task-Based Design and Policy Co-Optimization for T…
Reconfigurable robots that can change their physical configuration post-fabrication have demonstrate their potential in adapting to different environments or tasks. However, it is challenging to determine how to optimally adjust…
This paper introduces a methodology for task-specific design optimization of multirotor Micro Aerial Vehicles. By leveraging reinforcement learning, Bayesian optimization, and covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy, we optimize…
In robotics, structural design and behavior optimization have long been considered separate processes, resulting in the development of systems with limited capabilities. Recently, co-design methods have gained popularity, where bi-level…
Recent interest in mobile manipulation has resulted in a wide range of new robot designs. A large family of these designs focuses on modular platforms that combine existing mobile bases with static manipulator arms. They combine these…
This work investigates an application-driven co-design problem where the motion and motors of a six degrees of freedom robotic manipulator are optimized simultaneously, and the application is characterized by a set of tasks. Unlike the…
This study presents the design and the kinematic optimization of a novel, underactuated, linkage-based robotic hand exoskeleton to assist users in performing grasping tasks. The device has been designed to apply only normal forces to the…
Although robotic manipulators are used in an ever-growing range of applications, robot manufacturers typically follow a ``one-fits-all'' philosophy, employing identical manipulators in various settings. This often leads to suboptimal…
The task of controlling an underactuated robotic finger with a single tendon and a single actuator is difficult. Methods for controlling the class of underactuated systems are available in the literature. However, this particular system…
This paper demonstrates the computational design of soft elastomeric pneumatic actuators using nonlinear topology optimization. An existing density- and porohyperelasticity-based topology optimization framework was extended from 2D to 3D…
Tendon-driven mechanisms are useful from the perspectives of variable stiffness, redundant actuation, and lightweight design, and they are widely used, particularly in hands, wrists, and waists of robots. The design of these wire…
With the emergence of large model-based agents, widely adopted transformer-based architectures inevitably produce excessively long token embeddings for transmission, which may result in high bandwidth overhead, increased power consumption…
In contact-rich tasks, the hybrid, multi-modal nature of contact dynamics poses great challenges in model representation, planning, and control. Recent efforts have attempted to address these challenges via data-driven methods, learning…
Grasp synergies represent a useful idea to reduce grasping complexity without compromising versatility. Synergies describe coordination patterns between joints, either in terms of position (joint angles) or effort (joint torques). In both…
This paper proposes an MPC-based controller to efficiently execute multiple hierarchical tasks for underactuated and constrained robotic systems. Existing task-space controllers or whole-body controllers solve instantaneous optimization…
To economically deploy robotic manipulators the programming and execution of robot motions must be swift. To this end, we propose a novel, constraint-based method to intuitively specify sequential manipulation tasks and to compute…
This paper introduces a novel design method that enhances the force/torque, bendability, and controllability of soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs). The complex structure of the soft actuator is simplified by approximating it as a cantilever…
Tendon-driven underactuated hands excel in adaptive grasping but often suffer from kinematic unpredictability and highly non-linear force transmission. This ambiguity limits their ability to perform precise free-motion shaping and deliver…
This paper explores the possibility of improving bilateral robot manipulation task performance through optimizing the robot morphology and configuration of the system through motion. To optimize the design for different scenarios, we select…
Hand synergies, or joint coordination patterns, have become an effective tool for achieving versatile robotic grasping with simple hands or planning algorithms. Here we propose a method to determine the hand synergies such that they can be…
Hyper-redundant tendon-driven manipulators offer greater flexibility and compliance over traditional manipulators. A common way of controlling such manipulators relies on adjusting tendon lengths, which is an accessible control parameter.…