Related papers: A General Lie-Group Framework for Continuum Soft R…
Traditional dynamic models of continuum robots are in general computationally expensive and not suitable for real-time control. Recent approaches using learning-based methods to approximate the dynamic model of continuum robots for control…
Worm-inspired robots provide an effective locomotion strategy for constrained environments by combining cyclic body deformation with alternating anchoring. For compliant robots, however, the interaction between deformable anchoring…
We introduce and study the Group Square-Root Lasso (GSRL) method for estimation in high dimensional sparse regression models with group structure. The new estimator minimizes the square root of the residual sum of squares plus a penalty…
Accurately modeling soft robots in simulation is computationally expensive and commonly falls short of representing the real world. This well-known discrepancy, known as the sim-to-real gap, can have several causes, such as coarsely…
The control of free-floating robots requires dealing with several challenges. The motion of such robots evolves on a continuous manifold described by the Special Euclidean Group of dimension 3, known as SE(3). Methods from finite horizon…
Soft robots are distinguished by their flexibility and adaptability, allowing them to perform nearly impossible tasks for rigid robots. However, controlling their behavior is challenging due to their nonlinear material response and infinite…
We propose a method for the description and simulation of the nonlinear dynamics of slender structures modeled as Cosserat rods. It is based on interpreting the strains and the generalized velocities of the cross sections as basic variables…
The compliance of soft robotic arms renders the development of accurate kinematic & dynamical models especially challenging. The most widely used model in soft robotic kinematics assumes Piecewise Constant Curvature (PCC). However, PCC…
Reinforcement learning (RL) has demonstrated impressive performance in legged locomotion over various challenging environments. However, due to the sim-to-real gap and lack of explainability, unconstrained RL policies deployed in the real…
This paper presents a generic motion model to capture mobile robots' dynamic behaviors (translation and rotation). The model is based on statistical models driven by white random processes and is formulated into a full state estimation…
We study the smooth structure of convex functions by generalizing a powerful concept so-called self-concordance introduced by Nesterov and Nemirovskii in the early 1990s to a broader class of convex functions, which we call generalized…
As soft robot design matures, researchers have converged to sophisticated design paradigms to enable the development of more suitable platforms. Two such paradigms are soft-rigid hybrid robots, which utilize rigid structural materials in…
This work proposes a fully decentralized strategy for maintaining the formation rigidity of a multi-robot system using only range measurements, while still allowing the graph topology to change freely over time. In this direction, a first…
Living organisms intertwine soft (e.g., muscle) and hard (e.g., bones) materials, giving them an intrinsic flexibility and resiliency often lacking in conventional rigid robots. The emerging field of soft robotics seeks to harness these…
In this paper, we describe procedures for computing higher-order time derivatives of the Lie-group Newton-Euler, Articulated-Body Inertia, and hybrid dynamics algorithms for floating-base trees, where the base configuration evolves on SE(3)…
We introduce a fully-corrective generalized conditional gradient method for convex minimization problems involving total variation regularization on multidimensional domains. It relies on alternatively updating an active set of subsets of…
Parallel Continuum Robots (PCR) are closed-loop mechanisms but use elastic kinematic links connected in parallel between the end-effector (EE) and the base platform. PCRs are actuated primarily through large deflections of the…
We propose a unified framework in which the different constructions of cohomology groups for topological and Lie groups can all be treated on equal footings. In particular, we show that the cohomology of "locally continuous" cochains…
Optimal control in general, and flatness-based control in particular, of robotic arms necessitate to compute the first and second time derivatives of the joint torques/forces required to achieve a desired motion. In view of the required…
The standard in rod finite element formulations is the Bubnov-Galerkin projection method, where the test functions arise from a consistent variation of the ansatz functions. This approach becomes increasingly complex when highly nonlinear…