Related papers: Learning Granular Media Avalanche Behavior for Ind…
Locomotion on dynamic rigid surface (i.e., rigid surface accelerating in an inertial frame) presents complex challenges for controller design, which are essential for deploying humanoid robots in dynamic real-world environments such as…
Objects rarely sit in isolation in everyday human environments. If we want robots to operate and perform tasks in our human environments, they must understand how the objects they manipulate will interact with structural elements of the…
Legged robots can traverse a wide variety of terrains, some of which may be challenging for wheeled robots, such as stairs or highly uneven surfaces. However, quadruped robots face stability challenges on slippery surfaces. This can be…
There is growing interest in automating agricultural tasks that require intricate and precise interaction with specialty crops, such as trees and vines. However, developing robotic solutions for crop manipulation remains a difficult…
In this letter, we propose an efficient and highly versatile loco-manipulation planning for humanoid robots. Loco-manipulation planning is a key technological brick enabling humanoid robots to autonomously perform object transportation by…
The visuomotor system of any animal is critical for its survival, and the development of a complex one within humans is large factor in our success as a species on Earth. This system is an essential part of our ability to adapt to our…
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…
In this paper we tackle the problem of deformable object manipulation through model-free visual reinforcement learning (RL). In order to circumvent the sample inefficiency of RL, we propose two key ideas that accelerate learning. First, we…
Mobile ground robots operating on unstructured terrain must predict which areas of the environment they are able to pass in order to plan feasible paths. We address traversability estimation as a heightmap classification problem: we build a…
This paper presents an autonomous navigation system for ground robots traversing aggressive unstructured terrain through a cohesive arrangement of mapping, deliberative planning and reactive behaviour modules. All systems are aware of…
Legged robots must adapt their gait to navigate unpredictable environments, a challenge that animals master with ease. However, most deep reinforcement learning (DRL) approaches to quadruped locomotion rely on a fixed gait, limiting…
We exploit the complementary strengths of vision and proprioception to develop a point-goal navigation system for legged robots, called VP-Nav. Legged systems are capable of traversing more complex terrain than wheeled robots, but to fully…
This study addresses the problem of occluded grasping, where primary grasp configurations of an object are not available due to occlusion with environment. Simple parallel grippers often struggle with such tasks due to limited dexterity and…
Control policy learning for modular robot locomotion has previously been limited to proprioceptive feedback and flat terrain. This paper develops policies for modular systems with vision traversing more challenging environments. These…
Teaching robots desired skills in real-world environments remains challenging, especially for non-experts. A key bottleneck is that collecting robotic data often requires expertise or specialized hardware, limiting accessibility and…
Caves and lava tubes on the Moon and Mars are sites of geological and astrobiological interest but consist of terrain that is inaccessible with traditional robot locomotion. To support the exploration of these sites, we present ReachBot, a…
Future planetary exploration missions will require reaching challenging regions such as craters and steep slopes. Such regions are ubiquitous and present science-rich targets potentially containing information regarding the planet's…
In this paper, we present a framework rooted in control and planning that enables quadrupedal robots to traverse challenging terrains with discrete footholds using visual feedback. Navigating discrete terrain is challenging for quadrupeds…
In this paper, we propose Lan-grasp, a novel approach towards more appropriate semantic grasping and placing. We leverage foundation models to equip the robot with a semantic understanding of object geometry, enabling it to identify the…
Mobile grasping enhances manipulation efficiency by utilizing robots' mobility. This study aims to enable a commercial off-the-shelf robot for mobile grasping, requiring precise timing and pose adjustments. Self-supervised learning can…