Related papers: Optimal Knock-Pick Planning for Tightly Packed Tab…

Comparing robotic cloth-manipulation systems in a real-world setup is challenging. The fidelity gap between simulation-trained cloth neural controllers and real-world operation hinders the reliable deployment of these methods in physical…

The picking of one or more objects from an unsorted pile continues to be non-trivial for robotic systems. This is especially so when the pile consists of a granular material (GM) containing individual items that tangle with one another,…

In warehouse and manufacturing environments, manipulation platforms are frequently deployed at conveyor belts to perform pick and place tasks. Because objects on the conveyor belts are moving, robots have limited time to pick them up. This…

We present a combination technique based on mixed differences of both spatial approximations and quadrature formulae for the stochastic variables to solve efficiently a class of Optimal Control Problems (OCPs) constrained by random partial…

This paper addresses an optimal control problem for a robot that has to find and collect a finite number of objects and move them to a depot in minimum time. The robot has fourth-order dynamics that change instantaneously at any pick-up or…

Object rearrangement in a multi-room setup should produce a reasonable plan that reduces the agent's overall travel and the number of steps. Recent state-of-the-art methods fail to produce such plans because they rely on explicit…

Different manipulation tasks require different types of grasps. For example, holding a heavy tool like a hammer requires a multi-fingered power grasp offering stability, while holding a pen to write requires a multi-fingered precision grasp…

Robotic grasping of arbitrary objects even in completely known environments still remains a challenging problem. Most previously developed algorithms had focused on fingertip grasp, failing to solve the problem even for fully actuated…

Grasping in dense clutter is a fundamental skill for autonomous robots. However, the crowdedness and occlusions in the cluttered scenario cause significant difficulties to generate valid grasp poses without collisions, which results in low…

This paper studies the motion planning problem of the pick-and-place of an aerial manipulator that consists of a quadcopter flying base and a Delta arm. We propose a novel partially decoupled motion planning framework to solve this problem.…

Past research on interactive decision making problems (bandits, reinforcement learning, etc.) mostly focuses on the minimax regret that measures the algorithm's performance on the hardest instance. However, an ideal algorithm should adapt…

Perching on {the surface} of moving objects, like vehicles, could extend the flight {time} and range of quadrotors. Suction cups are usually adopted for {surface attachment} due to their durability and large adhesive force. To seal on {a…

For tabletop rearrangement problems with overhand grasps, storage space outside the tabletop workspace, or buffers, can temporarily hold objects which greatly facilitates the resolution of a given rearrangement task. This brings forth the…

We study a generalization of the knapsack problem with geometric and vector constraints. The input is a set of rectangular items, each with an associated profit and $d$ nonnegative weights ($d$-dimensional vector), and a square knapsack.…

We study the use of approximate Lagrange multipliers and discrete actions in solving convex optimisation problems. We observe that descent, which can be ensured using a wide range of approaches (gradient, subgradient, Newton, etc.), is…

We investigate approximation algorithms for several fundamental optimization problems on geometric packing. The geometric objects considered are very generic, namely $d$-dimensional convex fat objects. Our main contribution is a versatile…

Daily objects embedded in a contextual environment are often ungraspable initially. Whether it is a book sandwiched by other books on a fully packed bookshelf or a piece of paper lying flat on the desk, a series of nonprehensile pregrasp…

The problem of nonprehensile manipulation of a stick in three-dimensional space using intermittent impulsive forces is considered. The objective is to juggle the stick between a sequence of configurations that are rotationally symmetric…

Precisely grasping an object is a challenging task due to pose uncertainties. Conventional methods have used cameras and fixtures to reduce object uncertainty. They are effective but require intensive preparation, such as designing jigs…

Grasping in cluttered environments is a fundamental but challenging robotic skill. It requires both reasoning about unseen object parts and potential collisions with the manipulator. Most existing data-driven approaches avoid this problem…