Related papers: WAVE: Worm Gear-based Adaptive Variable Elasticity…

Shared Control methods often use impedance control to track target poses in a robotic manipulator. The guidance behavior of such controllers is shaped by the used stiffness gains, which can be varying over time to achieve an adaptive…

Electronic devices are essential for robots but limit their usable environments. To overcome this, methods excluding electronics from the operating environment while retaining advanced electronic control and actuation have been explored.…

In this study, we present the Differential Spiral Joint (DSJ) mechanism for variable stiffness actuation in tendon-driven robots. The DSJ mechanism semi-decouples the modulation of position and mechanical stiffness, allowing independent…

By learning Variable Impedance Control policy, robot assistants can intelligently adapt their manipulation compliance to ensure both safe interaction and proper task completion when operating in human-robot interaction environments. In this…

Variable impedance control is advantageous for physical human-robot interaction to improve safety, adaptability and many other aspects. This paper presents a gain-scheduled variable stiffness control approach under strict frequency-domain…

Vine-inspired robots achieve large workspace coverage through tip eversion, enabling safe navigation in confined and cluttered environments. However, their deployment in free space is fundamentally limited by low axial stiffness, poor…

Compared to traditional rigid robotics, soft robotics has attracted increasing attention due to its advantages as compliance, safety, and low cost. As an essential part of soft robotics, the soft robotic gripper also shows its superior…

Robotic arms built from stiffness-adjustable, continuously bending segments serially connected with revolute joints have the ability to change their mechanical architecture and workspace, thus allowing high flexibility and adaptation to…

An impedance-based control scheme is introduced for cooperative manipulators grasping a rigid load. The position and orientation of the load are to be maintained close to a desired trajectory, trading off tracking accuracy by low energy…

Experimental testing of an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) has been performed to evaluate the performance of two low-level controllers when displacement and drag properties are time-varying and uncertain. The USV is a 4.3 meter long, 150…

This paper present a novel dual-speed actuator adapted to robotics. In many applications, robots have to bear large loads while moving slowly and also have to move quickly through the air with almost no load. This lead to conflicting…

Soft robots are known for their ability to perform tasks with great adaptability, enabled by their distributed, non-uniform stiffness and actuation. Bending is the most fundamental motion for soft robot design, but creating robust, and…

This paper introduces a novel variable stiffness mechanism termed Helically Wound Structured Electrostatic Layer Jamming (HWS-ELJ) and systematically investigates its potential applications in variable stiffness robotic finger design. The…

In this study, we propose the Affine Variational Autoencoder (AVAE), a variant of Variational Autoencoder (VAE) designed to improve robustness by overcoming the inability of VAEs to generalize to distributional shifts in the form of affine…

We present DAVE Aquatic Virtual Environment (DAVE), an open source simulation stack for underwater robots, sensors, and environments. Conventional robotics simulators are not designed to address unique challenges that come with the marine…

Springs are commonly used in wearable robotic devices to provide assistive joint torque without the need for motors and batteries. However, different tasks (such as walking or running) and different users (such as athletes with strong legs…

Recently, the Edge Computing paradigm has gained significant popularity both in industry and academia. Researchers now increasingly target to improve performance and reduce energy consumption of such devices. Some recent efforts focus on…

Energy efficiency is a crucial issue towards longterm deployment of compliant robots in the real world. In the context of variable impedance actuators (VIAs), one of the main focuses has been on improving energy efficiency through reduction…

In intelligent manufacturing, robots are asked to dynamically adapt their behaviours without reducing productivity. Human teaching, where an operator physically interacts with the robot to demonstrate a new task, is a promising strategy to…

Soft pneumatic actuators are used to steer soft growing "vine" robots while being flexible enough to undergo the tip eversion required for growth. In this study, we compared the performance of three types of pneumatic actuators in terms of…