Related papers: Embodied Manipulation with Past and Future Morphol…
Following the recent advances in the field of robotic hand development, it can be inferred that the greatest challenge lies in restoring not just general functionality, but the delicate dexterity of the human hand. Results from studying its…
Evolutionary robotics has aimed to optimize robot control and morphology to produce better and more robust robots. Most previous research only addresses optimization of control, and does this only in simulation. We have developed a…
Robots are notoriously difficult to design because of complex interdependencies between their physical structure, sensory and motor layouts, and behavior. Despite this, almost every detail of every robot built to date has been manually…
We present a self-contained, soft robotic hand composed of soft pneumatic actuator modules that are equipped with strain and pressure sensing. We show how this data can be used to discern whether a grasp was successful. Co-locating sensing…
The functional replication and actuation of complex structures inspired by nature is a longstanding goal for humanity. Creating such complex structures combining soft and rigid features and actuating them with artificial muscles would…
Dexterous hands enable concurrent prehensile and nonprehensile manipulation, such as holding one object while interacting with another, a capability essential for everyday tasks yet underexplored in robotics. Learning such long-horizon,…
Soft robots are distinguished by their flexibility and adaptability, allowing them to perform nearly impossible tasks for rigid robots. However, controlling their behavior is challenging due to their nonlinear material response and infinite…
Traditional robotic mechanisms contain a series of rigid links connected by rotational joints that provide powered motion, all of which is controlled by a central processor. By contrast, analogous mechanisms found in nature, such as octopus…
Myoelectric prosthetic hands are intended to replace the function of the amputee's lost arm. Therefore, developing robotic prosthetics that can mimic not only the appearance and functionality of humans but also characteristics unique to…
Humans have an extraordinary ability to communicate and read the properties of objects by simply watching them being carried by someone else. This level of communicative skills and interpretation, available to humans, is essential for…
Developing autonomous home robots controlled by natural language has long been a pursuit of humanity. While advancements in large language models (LLMs) and embodied intelligence make this goal closer, several challenges persist: the lack…
In this paper we explore state-of-the-art underactuated, compliant robot gripper designs through looking at their performance on a generic grasping task. Starting from a state of the art open gripper design, we propose design…
When humans perform contact-rich manipulation tasks, customized tools are often necessary to simplify the task. For instance, we use various utensils for handling food, such as knives, forks and spoons. Similarly, robots may benefit from…
The automatic design of embodied agents (e.g. robots) has existed for 31 years and is experiencing a renaissance of interest in the literature. To date however, the field has remained narrowly focused on two kinds of anatomically simple…
Dexterous multi-fingered hands can accomplish fine manipulation behaviors that are infeasible with simple robotic grippers. However, sophisticated multi-fingered hands are often expensive and fragile. Low-cost soft hands offer an appealing…
Dexterous intelligence -- the ability to perform complex interactions with multi-fingered hands -- is a pinnacle of human physical intelligence and emergent higher-order cognitive skills. However, contrary to Moravec's paradox, dexterous…
Dexterous grasping is a fundamental yet challenging skill in robotic manipulation, requiring precise interaction between robotic hands and objects. In this paper, we present $\mathcal{D(R,O)}$ Grasp, a novel framework that models the…
Configurable robots are made up of robotic modules that can be assembled or can configure themselves into multiple robot configurations. In this research plan, a method for upper-body rehabilitation will be discussed in the form of a…
Many objects commonly found in household and industrial environments are represented by cylindrical and cubic shapes. Thus, it is available for robots to manipulate them through the real-time detection of elliptic and rectangle shape…
Most human-robot interfaces, such as joysticks and keyboards, require training and constant cognitive effort and provide a limited degree of awareness of the robots state and its environment. Embodied interactions, instead of interfaces,…