Related papers: Improving the realism of robotic surgery simulatio…
For soft robots to work effectively in human-centered environments, they need to be able to estimate their state and external interactions based on (proprioceptive) sensors. Estimating disturbances allows a soft robot to perform desirable…
Robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery is improving surgeon performance and patient outcomes. This innovation is also turning what has been a subjective practice into motion sequences that can be precisely measured. A growing number of…
We study the choice of action space in robot manipulation learning and sim-to-real transfer. We define metrics that assess the performance, and examine the emerging properties in the different action spaces. We train over 250 reinforcement…
Relative State Estimation perform mutually localization between two mobile agents undergoing six-degree-of-freedom motion. Based on the principle of circular motion, the estimation accuracy is sensitive to nonlinear rotations of the…
Pneumatic soft robots present many advantages in manipulation tasks. Notably, their inherent compliance makes them safe and reliable in unstructured and fragile environments. However, full-body shape sensing for pneumatic soft robots is…
In recent years Sim2Real approaches have brought great results to robotics. Techniques such as model-based learning or domain randomization can help overcome the gap between simulation and reality, but in some situations simulation accuracy…
Contemporary progress in the field of robotics, marked by improved efficiency and stability, has paved the way for the global adoption of surgical robotic systems (SRS). While these systems enhance surgeons' skills by offering a more…
Ergonomics and human comfort are essential concerns in physical human-robot interaction. Common practical methods in the area either fail in estimating the correct posture due to occlusion or suffer from inaccurate ergonomics models in…
High absolute accuracy is an essential prerequisite for a humanoid robot to autonomously and robustly perform manipulation tasks while avoiding obstacles. We present for the first time a kinematic model for a humanoid upper body…
Surgeons' technical skill directly impacts patient outcomes. To date, the angular motion of the instruments has been largely overlooked in objective skill evaluation. To fill this gap, we have developed metrics for surgical skill evaluation…
This paper describes a novel approach in human robot interaction driven by ergonomics. With a clear focus on optimising ergonomics, the approach proposed here continuously observes a human user's posture and by invoking appropriate…
Planning contact interactions is one of the core challenges of many robotic tasks. Optimizing contact locations while taking dynamics into account is computationally costly and, in environments that are only partially observable, executing…
Soft robotic manipulators provide numerous advantages over conventional rigid manipulators in fragile environments such as the marine environment. However, developing analytic inverse models necessary for shape, motion, and force control of…
Recent advancements in robotics have increased the possibilities for integrating robotic systems into human-involved workplaces, highlighting the need to examine and optimize human-robot coordination in collaborative settings. This study…
Reinforcement learning (RL) has gained traction for its success in solving complex tasks for robotic applications. However, its deployment on physical robots remains challenging due to safety risks and the comparatively high costs of…
As researchers teach robots to perform more and more complex tasks, the need for realistic simulation environments is growing. Existing techniques for closing the reality gap by approximating real-world physics often require extensive real…
During visuomotor tasks, robots must compensate for temporal delays inherent in their sensorimotor processing systems. Delay compensation becomes crucial in a dynamic environment where the visual input is constantly changing, e.g., during…
The transformation towards intelligence in various industries is creating more demand for intelligent and flexible products. In the field of robotics, learning-based methods are increasingly being applied, with the purpose of training…
3-D pose estimation of instruments is a crucial step towards automatic scene understanding in robotic minimally invasive surgery. Although robotic systems can potentially directly provide joint values, this information is not commonly…
Improved surgical skill is generally associated with improved patient outcomes, although assessment is subjective; labour-intensive; and requires domain specific expertise. Automated data driven metrics can alleviate these difficulties, as…