Related papers: Soft Robotic Dynamic In-Hand Pen Spinning
Living organisms intertwine soft (e.g., muscle) and hard (e.g., bones) materials, giving them an intrinsic flexibility and resiliency often lacking in conventional rigid robots. The emerging field of soft robotics seeks to harness these…
For humans, the process of grasping an object relies heavily on rich tactile feedback. Most recent robotic grasping work, however, has been based only on visual input, and thus cannot easily benefit from feedback after initiating contact.…
We present a novel underactued humanoid five finger soft hand, the KIT \softhand, which is equipped with cameras in the fingertips and integrates a high performance embedded system for visual processing and control. We describe the…
This paper proposes a new control framework for manipulating soft objects. A Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) approach is used to make the shape of a deformable object reach a set of desired points by controlling a robotic arm which…
Reinforcement learning has shown great potential in solving complex tasks when large amounts of data can be generated with little effort. In robotics, one approach to generate training data builds on simulations based on dynamics models…
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…
In this paper, we introduce a consistency-driven dual LSTM framework for accurately learning both the forward and inverse kinematics of a pneumatically actuated soft robotic arm integrated into a wearable device. This approach effectively…
Robots are expected to replace menial tasks such as housework. Some of these tasks include nonprehensile manipulation performed without grasping objects. Nonprehensile manipulation is very difficult because it requires considering the…
This paper proposes a new variable stiffness soft gripper that enables high-performance grasping tasks in industrial applications. The design of the proposed monolithic soft gripper includes a middle bellow and two side bellows (i.e.,…
We address dynamic manipulation of deformable linear objects by presenting SPiD, a physics-informed self-supervised learning framework that couples an accurate deformable object model with an augmented self-supervised training strategy. On…
We describe a mobile manipulation hardware and software system capable of autonomously performing complex human-level tasks in real homes, after being taught the task with a single demonstration from a person in virtual reality. This is…
Robot-to-human object handover is an essential skill for robot assistants, from serving drinks at home to passing surgical tools in the operating room. We expect robots to perform handover robustly -- to release the object only after a firm…
Current Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms struggle with long-horizon tasks where time can be wasted exploring dead ends and task progress may be easily reversed. We develop the SPOT framework, which explores within action safety zones,…
Robot arms that assist humans should be able to pick up, move, and release everyday objects. Today's assistive robot arms use rigid grippers to pinch items between fingers; while these rigid grippers are well suited for large and heavy…
Soft grippers, with their inherent compliance and adaptability, show advantages for delicate and versatile manipulation tasks in robotics. This paper presents a novel approach to underactuated control of multiple soft actuators, explicitly…
We present a fully autonomous real-world RL framework for mobile manipulation that can learn policies without extensive instrumentation or human supervision. This is enabled by 1) task-relevant autonomy, which guides exploration towards…
Inspired by the vertebrate branch of the animal kingdom, articulated soft robots are robotic systems embedding elastic elements into a classic rigid (skeleton-like) structure. Leveraging on their bodies elasticity, soft robots promise to…
Soft robots offer adaptability and safe interaction with complex environments. Rapid prototyping kits that allow soft robots to be assembled easily will allow different geometries to be explored quickly to suit different environments or to…
Object manipulation is a basic element in everyday human lives. Robotic manipulation has progressed from maneuvering single-rigid-body objects with firm grasping to maneuvering soft objects and handling contact-rich actions. Meanwhile,…
Human dexterity is an invaluable capability for precise manipulation of objects in complex tasks. The capability of robots to similarly grasp and perform in-hand manipulation of objects is critical for their use in the ever changing human…