Related papers: Enabling Robots to Autonomously Search Dynamic Clu…
Search-and-rescue (SaR) in unknown environments requires precise, optimal, and fast decisions. Robots are promising candidates for autonomously performing SaR tasks in unknown environments. While humans use their heuristics to effectively…
Soft robotics has emerged as a transformative technology in Search and Rescue (SAR) operations, addressing challenges in navigating complex, hazardous environments that often limit traditional rigid robots. This paper critically examines…
We consider the problem of autonomous mobile robot exploration in an unknown environment, taking into account a robot's coverage rate, map uncertainty, and state estimation uncertainty. This paper presents a novel exploration framework for…
One of the most challenging tasks for a flying robot is to autonomously navigate between target locations quickly and reliably while avoiding obstacles in its path, and with little to no a-priori knowledge of the operating environment. This…
In this thesis, the synthesis of correct-by-construction controllers for robots assisting in Search and Rescue (SAR) is considered. In recent years, the development of robots assisting in disaster mitigation in urban environments has been…
Autonomous operations of robots in unknown environments are challenging due to the lack of knowledge of the dynamics of the interactions, such as the objects' movability. This work introduces a novel Causal Reinforcement Learning approach…
Autonomous or teleoperated robots have been playing increasingly important roles in civil applications in recent years. Across the different civil domains where robots can support human operators, one of the areas where they can have more…
As drones and autonomous cars become more widespread it is becoming increasingly important that robots can operate safely under realistic conditions. The noisy information fed into real systems means that robots must use estimates of the…
Maximizing the utility of human-robot teams in disaster response and search and rescue (SAR) missions remains to be a challenging problem. This is due to the dynamic, uncertain nature of the environment and the variability in cognitive…
Robotic search and rescue (SAR) supports response teams by accelerating disaster assessment and by keeping operators away from hazardous environments. In the event of a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) disaster, robots…
Mobile manipulation tasks are one of the key challenges in the field of search and rescue (SAR) robotics requiring robots with flexible locomotion and manipulation abilities. Since the tasks are mostly unknown in advance, the robot has to…
This paper presents a self-contained system for the robust utilization of aerial robots in the autonomous exploration of cave environments to help human explorers, first responders, and speleologists. The proposed system is generally…
This paper presents an autonomous navigation framework for reaching a goal in unknown 3D cluttered environments. The framework consists of three main components. First, a computationally efficient method for mapping the environment from the…
The capability of a mobile robot to efficiently and safely perform complex missions is limited by its knowledge of the environment, namely the situation. Advanced reasoning, decision-making, and execution skills enable an intelligent agent…
The breakthrough in AI and Machine Learning has brought a new revolution in robotics, resulting in the construction of more sophisticated robotic systems. Not only can these robotic systems benefit all domains, but also can accomplish tasks…
The acquisition of large-scale physical interaction data, a critical prerequisite for modern robot learning, is severely bottlenecked by the prohibitive cost and scalability limits of human-in-the-loop collection paradigms. To break this…
Continuum robots, characterized by their high flexibility and infinite degrees of freedom (DoFs), have gained prominence in applications such as minimally invasive surgery and hazardous environment exploration. However, the intrinsic…
The rapid development of robotics has benefited by more and more people putting their attention to it. With the demand for robots is growing for the purpose of fulfilling tasks instead of humans, how to control the robot better is becoming…
Balancing safety and efficiency when planning in crowded scenarios with uncertain dynamics is challenging where it is imperative to accomplish the robot's mission without incurring any safety violations. Typically, chance constraints are…
Robotic tasks involving contact interactions pose significant challenges for trajectory optimization due to discontinuous dynamics. Conventional formulations typically assume deterministic contact events, which limit robustness and…