Related papers: Spiking control systems for soft robotics: a rhyth…
Smart structures are usually designed with a stimulus-response mechanism to mimic the autoregulatory process of living systems. In this work, in order to simulate this natural and self-adjustable behavior, a fuzzy feedback linearization…
We examine the problem of snake-like locomotion by studying a system consisting of a planar inextensible elastic rod that is able to control its spontaneous curvature. Using a Cosserat model we derive, through variational principles, the…
Coordinated motion control in swarm robotics aims to ensure the coherence of members in space, i.e., the robots in a swarm perform coordinated movements to maintain spatial structures. This problem can be modeled as a tracking control…
In this paper, we present an energy-conservation based control architecture for stable dynamic motion in quadruped robots. We model the robot as a Spring-loaded Inverted Pendulum (SLIP), a model well-suited to represent the bouncing motion…
This paper introduces a way to systematically investigate the effect of compliant prismatic spines in quadrupedal robot locomotion. We develop a novel spring-loaded lockable spine module, together with a new Spinal Compliance-Integrated…
Snap-buckling is a rapid shape transition in slender structures, appearing as a fundamental switching mechanism of natural and man-made systems. Boundary conditions of structures are crucial to predict and control their snap-buckling…
We study the cooling performance of optical-feedback controllers for open optical and mechanical resonators in the Linear Quadratic Gaussian setting of stochastic control theory. We utilize analysis and numerical optimization of closed-loop…
Humans have an exquisite sense of touch which robotic and prosthetic systems aim to recreate. We developed algorithms to create neuron-like (neuromorphic) spiking representations of texture that are invariant to the scanning speed and…
Dissipative environments are ubiquitous in nature, from microscopic swimmers in low-Reynolds-number fluids to macroscopic animals in frictional media. In this study, motivated by various behaviours of {\it Caenorhabditis elegans} during…
Control of underactuated dynamical systems has been studied for decades in robotics, and is now emerging in other fields such as neuroscience. Most of the advances have been in model based control theory, which has limitations when the…
Since the advent of mobile robots, obstacle detection has been a topic of great interest. It has also been a subject of study in neuroscience, where flying insects and bats could be considered two of the most interesting cases in terms of…
Though switched dynamical systems have shown great utility in modeling a variety of physical phenomena, the construction of an optimal control of such systems has proven difficult since it demands some type of optimal mode scheduling. In…
In this paper, we investigate the synthesis of piecewise affine feedback controllers to address the problem of safe and robust controller design in robotics based on high-level controls specifications. The methodology is based on…
Concurrent estimation and control of robotic systems remains an ongoing challenge, where controllers rely on data extracted from states/parameters riddled with uncertainties and noises. Framework suitability hinges on task complexity and…
Locomotion may be induced on three levels. On a classical level, actuators and limbs follow the sequence of open-loop top-down control signals they receive. Limbs may move alternatively on their own, which implies that interlimb…
In this article, we study optimal control problems of spiking neurons whose dynamics are described by a phase model. We design minimum-power current stimuli (controls) that lead to targeted spiking times of neurons, where the cases with…
Sliding mode control (SMC) is a robust and computationally efficient solution for tracking control problems of highly nonlinear systems with a great deal of uncertainty. High frequency oscillations due to chattering phenomena and…
Soft pneumatic legged robots show promise in their ability to traverse a range of different types of terrain, including natural unstructured terrain met in applications like precision agriculture. They can adapt their body morphology to the…
In this work we study the detection of weak stimuli by spiking neurons in the presence of certain level of noisy background neural activity. Our study has focused in the realistic assumption that the synapses in the network present…
Being permanently confronted with an uncertain world, brains have faced evolutionary pressure to represent this uncertainty in order to respond appropriately. Often, this requires visiting multiple interpretations of the available…