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This paper revisits the problem of continuous-time structure from motion, and introduces a number of extensions that improve convergence and efficiency. The formulation with a $\mathcal{C}^2$-continuous spline for the trajectory naturally…
We propose a structured prediction approach for robot imitation learning from demonstrations. Among various tools for robot imitation learning, supervised learning has been observed to have a prominent role. Structured prediction is a form…
Experimental analysis of the mechanics of a deformable object, and particularly its stability, requires repetitive testing and, depending on the complexity of the object's shape, a testing setup that can manipulate many degrees of freedom…
Continuum robots possess high flexibility and redundancy, making them well suited for safe interaction in complex environments, yet their continuous deformation and nonlinear dynamics pose fundamental challenges to perception, modeling, and…
This study presents an enhanced proprioceptive method for accurate shape estimation of soft robots using only off-the-shelf sensors, ensuring cost-effectiveness and easy applicability. By integrating inertial measurement units (IMUs) with…
Recently, fiber optic sensors such as fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) have been widely investigated for shape reconstruction and force estimation of flexible surgical robots. However, most existing approaches need precise model parameters of…
Soft robotics have gained increased attention from the robotic community due to their unique features such as compliance and human safety. Impressive amount of soft robotic prototypes have shown their superior performance over their rigid…
State estimation of robotic systems is essential to implementing feedback controllers, which usually provide better robustness to modeling uncertainties than open-loop controllers. However, state estimation of soft robots is very…
Design of robots at the small scale is a trial-and-error based process, which is costly and time-consuming. There are no good dynamic simulation tools to predict the motion or performance of a microrobot as it moves against a substrate. At…
This work proposes novel techniques for the efficient numerical simulation of parameterized, unsteady partial differential equations. Projection-based reduced order models (ROMs) such as the reduced basis method employ a (Petrov-)Galerkin…
Ultrasound poroelastography is a cost-effective non-invasive imaging technique, which is able to reconstruct several mechanical parameters of cancer and normal tissue such as Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, interstitial permeability and…
A hybrid continuum robot design is introduced that combines a proximal tendon-actuated section with a distal telescoping section comprised of permanent-magnet spheres actuated using an external magnet. While, individually, each section can…
With the recent advances in machine learning, problems that traditionally would require accurate modeling to be solved analytically can now be successfully approached with data-driven strategies. Among these, computing the inverse…
We present a nonlinear interpolation technique for parametric fields that exploits optimal transportation of coherent structures of the solution to achieve accurate performance. The approach generalizes the nonlinear interpolation procedure…
With the advantages of high modeling accuracy and large bandwidth, recurrent neural network (RNN) based inversion model control has been proposed for output tracking. However, some issues still need to be addressed when using the RNN-based…
An alternative data-driven modeling approach has been proposed and employed to gain fundamental insights into robot motion interaction with granular terrain at certain length scales. The approach is based on an integration of dimension…
Predicting the shape of tendon driven continuum robots (TDCRs) at steady state from actuation remains challenging due to continuous deformation, complex tendon routing, compliance, friction, and fabrication variability. In this paper, we…
Bipedal locomotion is a key challenge in robotics, particularly for robots like Bolt, which have a point-foot design. This study explores the control of such underactuated robots using constrained reinforcement learning, addressing their…
Continuum robots are typically slender and flexible with infinite freedoms in theory, which poses a challenge for their control and application. The shape sensing of continuum robots is vital to realise accuracy control. This letter…
The properties of films assembled by drying colloidal-particle suspensions depend sensitively on both the particles and the processing conditions, making them challenging to engineer. In this work, we develop and test an inverse-design…