Related papers: Solving the Right Problem with Multi-Robot Formati…

We address the problem of training models with black-box and hard-to-optimize metrics by expressing the metric as a monotonic function of a small number of easy-to-optimize surrogates. We pose the training problem as an optimization over a…

For many tasks, multi-robot teams often provide greater efficiency, robustness, and resiliency. However, multi-robot collaboration in real-world scenarios poses a number of major challenges, especially when dynamic robots must balance…

Planning dual-arm assembly of more than three objects is a challenging Task and Motion Planning (TAMP) problem. The assembly planner shall consider not only the pose constraints of objects and robots, but also the gravitational constraints…

Consider a general path planning problem of a robot on a graph with edge costs, and where each node has a Boolean value of success or failure (with respect to some task) with a given probability. The objective is to plan a path for the…

Force modulation of robotic manipulators has been extensively studied for several decades. However, it is not yet commonly used in safety-critical applications due to a lack of accurate interaction contact modeling and weak performance…

In this paper, we introduce an algorithm designed to address the problem of time-optimal formation reshaping in three-dimensional environments while preventing collisions between agents. The utility of the proposed approach is particularly…

This paper addresses motion replanning in human-robot collaborative scenarios, emphasizing reactivity and safety-compliant efficiency. While existing human-aware motion planners are effective in structured environments, they often struggle…

This paper considers the problem of robot motion planning in a workspace with obstacles for systems with uncertain 2nd-order dynamics. In particular, we combine closed form potential-based feedback controllers with adaptive control…

Most of the existing formation algorithms for multiagent systems are fully label-specified, i.e., the desired position for each agent in the formation is uniquely determined by its label, which would inevitably make the formation algorithms…

It is well-known that a deep understanding of co-workers' behavior and preference is important for collaboration effectiveness. In this work, we present a method to accomplish smooth human-robot collaboration in close proximity by taking…

Continuum robots are well suited for navigating confined and fragile environments, such as vascular or endoluminal anatomy, where contact with surrounding structures is often unavoidable. While controlled contact can assist motion,…

Industrial robots typically require very structured and predictable working environments, and explicit programming, in order to perform well. Therefore, expensive and time-consuming engineering work is a major obstruction when mediating…

Contact planning is crucial in locomoting systems.Specifically, appropriate contact planning can enable versatile behaviors (e.g., sidewinding in limbless locomotors) and facilitate speed-dependent gait transitions (e.g., walk-trot-gallop…

The joint optimization of physical parameters and controllers in robotic systems is challenging. This is due to the difficulties of predicting the effect that changes in physical parameters have on final performances. At the same time,…

Navigating a collision-free and optimal trajectory for a robot is a challenging task, particularly in environments with moving obstacles such as humans. We formulate this problem as a stochastic optimal control problem. Since solving the…

This paper studies a class of multi-robot coordination problems where a team of robots aim to reach their goal regions with minimum time and avoid collisions with obstacles and other robots. A novel numerical algorithm is proposed to…

Many robotics tasks, such as path planning or trajectory optimization, are formulated as optimal control problems (OCPs). The key to obtaining high performance lies in the design of the OCP's objective function. In practice, the objective…

Planning contact interactions is one of the core challenges of many robotic tasks. Optimizing contact locations while taking dynamics into account is computationally costly and, in environments that are only partially observable, executing…

This paper presents an end-to-end framework for robust structure/control optimization of an industrial benchmark. When dealing with space structures, a reduction of the spacecraft mass is paramount to minimize the mission cost and maximize…

The paper surveys topological problems relevant to the motion planning problem of robotics and includes some new results and constructions. First we analyse the notion of topological complexity of configuration spaces which is responsible…