Related papers: Actuators \`A La Mode: Modal Actuations for Soft B…

We present a framework of elastic locomotion, which allows users to enliven an elastic body to produce interesting locomotion by prescribing its high-level kinematics. We formulate this problem as an inverse simulation problem and seek the…

This paper presents the design and assessment of a fabric-based soft pneumatic actuator with low pressurization requirements for actuation making it suitable for upper extremity assistive devices for infants. The goal is to support shoulder…

Robots often interact with the world via attached parts such as wheels, joints, or appendages. In many systems, these interactions, and the manner in which they lead to locomotion, can be understood using the machinery of geometric…

This paper strives for motion-focused video-language representations. Existing methods to learn video-language representations use spatial-focused data, where identifying the objects and scene is often enough to distinguish the relevant…

This paper presents the design of a new soft-rigid robotic platform, "GeoGami". We leverage origami surface capabilities to achieve shape contraction and to support locomotion with underactuated forms. A key challenge is that origami…

Coordinate-based volumetric representations have the potential to generate photo-realistic virtual avatars from images. However, virtual avatars also need to be controllable even to a novel pose that may not have been observed. Traditional…

We propose a method to generate actuation plans for a reduced order, dynamic model of bipedal running. This method explicitly enforces robustness to ground uncertainty. The plan generated is not a fixed body trajectory that is aggressively…

While its biological significance is well-documented, its application in soft robotics, particularly for the transport of fragile and irregularly shaped objects, remains underexplored. This study presents a modular soft robotic actuator…

Both expert and novice animators have a need to engage in movement sketching -- low-cost, rapid iteration on a character's movement style -- especially early on in the ideation process. Yet animation tools currently focus on low-level…

Animating hand-drawn sketches using traditional tools is challenging and complex. Sketches provide a visual basis for explanations, and animating these sketches offers an experience of real-time scenarios. We propose an approach for…

Quadrupedal robots have emerged as versatile agents capable of locomoting and manipulating in complex environments. Traditional designs typically rely on the robot's inherent body parts or incorporate top-mounted arms for manipulation…

Object manipulation has been extensively studied in the context of fixed base and mobile manipulators. However, the overactuated locomotion modality employed by snake robots allows for a unique blend of object manipulation through…

Soft robots offer an alternative approach to manipulate inside the constrained space while maintaining the safe interaction with the external environment. Due to its adaptable compliance characteristic, external contact force can easily…

Learning an animatable and clothed human avatar model with vivid dynamics and photorealistic appearance from multi-view videos is an important foundational research problem in computer graphics and vision. Fueled by recent advances in…

Natural organisms utilize distributed actuation through their musculoskeletal systems to adapt their gait for traversing diverse terrains or to morph their bodies for varied tasks. A longstanding challenge in robotics is to emulate this…

Dynamic control of a soft-body robot to deliver complex behaviors with low-dimensional actuation inputs is challenging. In this paper, we present a computational approach to automatically generate versatile, underactuated control policies…

Articulated objects like doors, drawers, valves, and tools are pervasive in our everyday unstructured dynamic environments. Articulation models describe the joint nature between the different parts of an articulated object. As most of these…

It is at times important to detect human presence automatically in secure environments. This needs a shape recognition algorithm that is robust, fast and has low error rates. The algorithm needs to process camera images quickly to detect…

We present MotionPersona, a novel real-time character controller that allows users to characterize a character by specifying attributes such as physical traits, mental states, and demographics, and projects these properties into the…

In this work, we present a novel, integrated rigged character simulation framework in Conformal Geometric Algebra (CGA) that supports, for the first time, real-time cuts and tears, before and/or after the animation, while maintaining…