Related papers: Educational SoftHand-A: Building an Anthropomorphi…

When a human performs a given specific task, it has been known that the central nervous system controls modularized muscle group, which is called muscle synergy. For human-robot interface design problem, therefore, the muscle synergy can be…

To achieve human-like dexterity for anthropomorphic robotic hands, it is essential to understand the biomechanics and control strategies of the human hand, in order to reduce the number of actuators being used without loosing hand…

Legged robots have the potential to become vital in maintenance, home support, and exploration scenarios. In order to interact with and manipulate their environments, most legged robots are equipped with a dedicated robot arm, which means…

We introduce SoftMimic, a framework for learning compliant whole-body control policies for humanoid robots from example motions. Imitating human motions with reinforcement learning allows humanoids to quickly learn new skills, but existing…

Robots with multi-fingered grippers could perform advanced manipulation tasks for us if we were able to properly specify to them what to do. In this study, we take a step in that direction by making a robot grasp an object like a grasping…

We present BricksRL, a platform designed to democratize access to robotics for reinforcement learning research and education. BricksRL facilitates the creation, design, and training of custom LEGO robots in the real world by interfacing…

In today's high-pressure and isolated society, the demand for emotional support has surged, necessitating innovative solutions. Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) offer a technological approach to providing emotional assistance by leveraging…

Dynamic in-hand manipulation remains a challenging task for soft robotic systems that have demonstrated advantages in safe compliant interactions but struggle with high-speed dynamic tasks. In this work, we present SWIFT, a system for…

Lack of accessible and dexterous robot hardware has been a significant bottleneck to achieving human-level dexterity in robots. Last year, we released Ruka, a fully open-sourced, tendon-driven humanoid hand with 11 degrees of freedom - 2…

Hand impairment following neurological disorders substantially limits independence in activities of daily living, motivating the development of effective assistive and rehabilitation strategies. Soft robotic gloves have attracted growing…

Anthropomorphic underactuated hands are valued for their structural simplicity and inherent adaptability. However, the uncertainty arising from interdependent joint motions makes it challenging to capture various grasp states during…

In the evolving landscape of education, robotics has emerged as a powerful tool for fostering creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills among students of all ages. This innovative approach to learning seamlessly integrates…

Human-Robot collaboration in home and industrial workspaces is on the rise. However, the communication between robots and humans is a bottleneck. Although people use a combination of different types of gestures to complement speech, only a…

Contact-rich manipulation tasks in unstructured environments pose significant robustness challenges for robot learning, where unexpected collisions can cause damage and hinder policy acquisition. Existing soft end-effectors face fundamental…

It is challenging to grasp numerous objects with varying sizes and shapes with a single robot hand. To address this, we propose a new robot hand called the 'F3 hand' inspired by the complex movements of human index finger and thumb. The F3…

Manipulating objects with two multi-fingered hands has been a long-standing challenge in robotics, due to the contact-rich nature of many manipulation tasks and the complexity inherent in coordinating a high-dimensional bimanual system. In…

Inspired by infant development, we propose a Reinforcement Learning (RL) framework for autonomous self-exploration in a robotic agent, Baby Sophia, using the BabyBench simulation environment. The agent learns self-touch and hand regard…

This study tackles the representative yet challenging contact-rich peg-in-hole task of robotic assembly, using a soft wrist that can operate more safely and tolerate lower-frequency control signals than a rigid one. Previous studies often…

Skills like computational thinking, problem solving, handling complexity, team-work and project management are essential for future careers and needs to be taught to students at the elementary level itself. Computer programming knowledge…

Despite recent advancements, existing prosthetic limbs are unable to replicate the dexterity and intuitive control of the human hand. Current control systems for prosthetic hands are often limited to grasping, and commercial prosthetic…