Related papers: Reconfigurable Tendon-Driven Robots: Eliminating I…
Developing robust locomotion controllers for bipedal robots with closed kinematic chains presents unique challenges, particularly since most reinforcement learning (RL) approaches simplify these parallel mechanisms into serial models during…
In this paper, we propose a novel type of serial robot with minimal actuation. The robot is a serial rigid structure consisting of multiple links connected by passive joints and of movable actuators. The novelty of this robot is that the…
Robots which make use of soft or compliant inter- actions often leverage tendon-driven actuation which enables actuators to be placed more flexibly, and compliance to be maintained. However, controlling complex tendon systems is…
Soft robots are gaining popularity thanks to their intrinsic safety to contacts and adaptability. However, the potentially infinite number of Degrees of Freedom makes their modeling a daunting task, and in many cases only an approximated…
A family of reconfigurable parallel robots can change motion modes by passing through constraint singularities by locking and releasing some passive joints of the robot. This paper is about the kinematics, the workspace and singularity…
SLOT (Soft Legged Omnidirectional Tetrapod), a tendon-driven soft quadruped robot with 3D-printed TPU legs, is presented to study physics-informed modeling and control of compliant legged locomotion using only four actuators. Each leg is…
Supernumerary robotic limbs (SRLs) gained increasing interest in the last years for their applicability as healthcare and assistive technologies. These devices can either support or augment human sensorimotor capabilities, allowing users to…
Bio-inspired multi-joint snake robots offer the advantages of terrain adaptability due to their limbless structure and high flexibility. However, a series of dozens of motor units in typical multiple-joint snake robots results in a heavy…
Multi-legged elongate robots hold promise for maneuvering through complex environments. Prior work has demonstrated that reliable locomotion can be achieved using open-loop body undulation and foot placement on rugose terrain. However,…
One of the most important features of tendon-driven robots is the ease of wire arrangement and the degree of freedom it affords, enabling the construction of a body that satisfies the desired characteristics by modifying the wire…
Pneunets are the primary form of soft robotic grippers. A key limitation to their wider adoption is their inability to grasp larger payloads due to objects slipping out of grasps. We have overcome this limitation by introducing a…
Tensegrity robots, composed of rigid struts and elastic tendons, provide impact resistance, low mass, and adaptability to unstructured terrain. Their compliance and complex, coupled dynamics, however, present modeling and control…
Wheeled robots are highly efficient in human living environments. However, conventional wheeled designs, with their limited degrees of freedom and constraints in robot configuration, struggle to simultaneously achieve stability,…
Simulation-based reinforcement learning (RL) has significantly advanced humanoid locomotion tasks, yet direct real-world RL from scratch or adapting from pretrained policies remains rare, limiting the full potential of humanoid robots.…
This study presents an innovative approach to optimal gait control for a soft quadruped robot enabled by four Compressible Tendon-driven Soft Actuators (CTSAs). Improving our previous studies of using model-free reinforcement learning for…
Legged locomotion shows promise for running in complex, unstructured environments. Designing such legged robots requires considering heterogeneous, multi-domain constraints and variables, from mechanical hardware and geometry choices to…
Collaborative robots should ideally use low torque actuators for passive safety reasons. However, some applications require these collaborative robots to reach deep into confined spaces while assisting a human operator in physically…
ReachBot, a proposed robotic platform, employs extendable booms as limbs for mobility in challenging environments, such as martian caves. When attached to the environment, ReachBot acts as a parallel robot, with reconfiguration driven by…
Tendon-driven robots, a type of continuum robot, have the potential to reduce the invasiveness of surgery by enabling access to difficult-to-reach anatomical targets. In the future, the automation of surgical tasks for these robots may help…
For almost all tendon-driven continuum robots, a segment is actuated by three or four tendons constrained by its mechanical design. For both cases, methods to account for the constraints are known. However, for an arbitrary number of…