Related papers: Closed-loop shape control of deformable linear obj…

Soft continuum robots can allow for biocompatible yet compliant motions, such as the ability of octopus arms to swim, crawl, and manipulate objects. However, current state-of-the-art continuum robots can only achieve real-time task-space…

This paper investigates the control problem of steering a group of spherical mobile robots to cooperatively transport a spherical object. By controlling the movements of the robots to exert appropriate contact (pushing) forces, it is…

Non-prehensile manipulation is challenging due to complex contact interactions between objects, the environment, and robots. Model-based approaches can efficiently generate complex trajectories of robots and objects under contact…

Continuum and soft robots can transform diverse sectors, including healthcare, agriculture, marine, and space, thanks to their potential to adaptively interact with unstructured environments. These robots exhibit complex mechanics that pose…

Soft bodies made from flexible and deformable materials are popular in many robotics applications, but their proprioceptive sensing has been a long-standing challenge. In other words, there has hardly been a method to measure and model the…

This paper presents a correspondence-free, function-based sim-to-real learning method for controlling deformable freeform surfaces. Unlike traditional sim-to-real transfer methods that strongly rely on marker points with full…

In co-manipulative continuum robots (CCRs), multiple continuum arms cooperate by grasping a common flexible object, forming a closed-chain deformable mechanical system. The closed-chain coupling induces strong dynamic interactions and…

This paper bridges optimization and control, and presents a novel closed-loop control framework based on natural gradient descent, offering a trajectory-oriented alternative to traditional cost-function tuning. By leveraging the Fisher…

Deformable object manipulation tasks have long been regarded as challenging robotic problems. However, until recently very little work has been done on the subject, with most robotic manipulation methods being developed for rigid objects.…

Precise shape control of Deformable Linear Objects (DLOs) is crucial in robotic applications such as industrial and medical fields. However, existing methods face challenges in handling complex large deformation tasks, especially those…

This paper proposes a model-based approach to control the shape of a tensegrity system by driving its node position locations. The nonlinear dynamics of the tensegrity system is used to regulate position, velocity, and acceleration to the…

Constrained environments are common in practical applications of manipulating deformable linear objects (DLOs), where movements of both DLOs and robots should be constrained. This task is high-dimensional and highly constrained owing to the…

In this paper, we explore the discrete time sparse feedback control for a linear invariant system, where the proposed optimal feedback controller enjoys input sparsity by using a dynamic linear compensator, i.e., the components of feedback…

This paper investigates adaptive control of nonlinear robot manipulators with parametric uncertainty. Motivated by generating closed-loop robot dynamics with enhanced transmission capability of a reference torque and with connection to…

The availability of affordable and portable depth sensors has made scanning objects and people simpler than ever. However, dealing with occlusions and missing parts is still a significant challenge. The problem of reconstructing a (possibly…

We present a control framework for achieving encirclement of a target moving in 3D using a multi-robot system. Three variations of a basic control strategy are proposed for different versions of the encirclement problem, and their…

Manipulation planning is the problem of finding a sequence of robot configurations that involves interactions with objects in the scene, e.g., grasping and placing an object, or more general tool-use. To achieve such interactions,…

Clay sculpting is a nuanced, artistic task involving dexterous manipulation with long-horizon planning to achieve high-level goals. As a robotics problem, we formulate clay sculpting as a shape-to-shape matching challenge. Prior deformable…

Deformable linear objects (e.g., cables, ropes, and threads) commonly appear in our everyday lives. However, perception of these objects and the study of physical interaction with them is still a growing area. There have already been…

Real-time proprioception is a challenging problem for soft robots, which have almost infinite degrees-of-freedom in body deformation. When multiple actuators are used, it becomes more difficult as deformation can also occur on actuators…