Related papers: Tuning collective actuation of active solids by op…
We use recent results that localized excitations in nonlinear Hamiltonian lattices can be viewed and described as multiple-frequency excitations. Their dynamics in phase space takes place on tori of corresponding dimension. For a…
We use recent results that localized excitations in nonlinear Hamiltonian lattices can be viewed and described as multiple-frequency excitations. Their dynamics in phase space takes place on tori of corresponding dimension. For a…
Flocking is a coordinated collective behavior that results from local sensing between individual agents that have a tendency to orient towards each other. Flocking is common among animal groups and might also be useful in robotic swarms. In…
This work addresses the challenge of a robot using real-time feedback from contact sensors to reliably manipulate a movable object on a cluttered tabletop. We formulate contact manipulation as a partially observable Markov decision process…
This paper introduces a model of multi-unit organizations with either static structures, i.e., they are designed top-down following classical approaches to organizational design, or dynamic structures, i.e., the structures emerge over time…
Understanding human activity is very challenging even with the recently developed 3D/depth sensors. To solve this problem, this work investigates a novel deep structured model, which adaptively decomposes an activity instance into temporal…
We consider a distributed stochastic optimization problem in networks with finite number of nodes. Each node adjusts its action to optimize the global utility of the network, which is defined as the sum of local utilities of all nodes.…
Assembling lattices from discrete building blocks enables the composition of large, heterogeneous, and easily reconfigurable objects with desirable mass-to-stiffness ratios. This type of building system may also be referred to as a digital…
Semi-active vibration reduction techniques are defined as techniques in which controlled actions do not operate directly on the system's degrees of freedom (as in the case of active vibration control) but on the system's parameters, i.e.,…
Motivated by the observation of non-exponential run-time distributions of bacterial swimmers, we propose a minimal phenomenological model for taxis of active particles whose motion is controlled by an internal clock. The ticking of the…
We computationally study suspensions of slow and fast active Brownian particles that have undergone motility induced phase separation and are at steady state. Such mixtures, of varying non-zero activity, remain largely unexplored even…
This note is devoted to the distributed optimization problem of multi-agent systems with nonconvex velocity constraints, nonuniform position constraints and nonuniform stepsizes. Two distributed constrained algorithms with nonconvex…
We consider a suspension of active rigid particles (swimmers) in a steady Stokes flow, where particles are distributed according to a stationary ergodic random process, and we study its homogenization in the macroscopic limit. A key point…
Tangentially driven active polymers (TDAPs), model systems for motor-driven filaments, have been extensively studied in uniform activity fields. Here, we show that an activity gradient breaks fore-aft symmetry, generating net body forces…
In order to solve complex, long-horizon tasks, intelligent robots need to carry out high-level, abstract planning and reasoning in conjunction with motion planning. However, abstract models are typically lossy and plans or policies computed…
An accurate and easily extendable method to deal with lattice dynamics of solids is offered. It is based on first-principles molecular dynamics simulations and provides a consistent way to extract the best possible harmonic - or higher…
Many human activities involve object manipulations aiming to modify the object state. Examples of common state changes include full/empty bottle, open/closed door, and attached/detached car wheel. In this work, we seek to automatically…
In amorphous solids subject to shear or thermal excitation, so-called structural indicators have been developed that predict locations of future plasticity or particle rearrangements. An open question is whether similar tools can be used in…
Solving real-world manipulation tasks requires robots to have a repertoire of skills applicable to a wide range of circumstances. When using learning-based methods to acquire such skills, the key challenge is to obtain training data that…
Collective dynamics can be observed among many animal species, and have given rise in the last decades to an active and interdisciplinary field of study. Such behaviors are often modeled by active matter, in which each individual is…