Publications related to Humanoid robot

Online Multicontact Receding Horizon Planning via Value Function Approximation

Planning multicontact motions in a receding horizon fashion requires a value function to guide the planning with respect to the future, e.g., building momentum to traverse large obstacles. Traditionally, the value function is approximated by computing traj ...

Ieee-Inst Electrical Electronics Engineers Inc2024

Educational Soft Underwater Robot with an Electromagnetic Actuation

Robert Marius Hennig

As demonstrated by the Soft Robotics Toolkit Platform, compliant robotics pose an exciting educational opportunity. Underwater robotics using soft undulating fins is an expansive research topic with applications such as exploration of underwater life or re ...

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc2024

Exact Obstacle Avoidance for Robots in Complex and Dynamic Environments Using Local Modulation

Lukas Huber

Robots outside of the fenced factories have to deal with continuously changing environment, this requires fast and flexible modes of control. Planning methods or complex learning models can find optimal paths in complex surroundings, but they are computati ...

EPFL2024

Edible Soft Actuators based on Konjac Glucomannan for Underwater Operation

Dario Floreano, Bokeon Kwak, Markéta Pankhurst, Ryo Kanno, Jun Shintake

Soft robots are being increasingly developed and deployed for underwater applications such as exploration, monitoring, and rescue owing to their innate compliance, mechanical and chemical stability, and waterproof properties. However, they are still predom ...

2024

Implicit Distance Functions: Learning and Applications in Robotics

Mikhail Koptev

In this thesis, we address the complex issue of collision avoidance in the joint space of robots. Avoiding collisions with both the robot's own body parts and obstacles in the environment is a critical constraint in motion planning and is crucial for ensur ...

EPFL2023

Towards Efficient Gas Leak Detection in Built Environments: Data-Driven Plume Modeling for Gas Sensing Robots

Alcherio Martinoli, Chiara Ercolani, Wanting Jin, Faezeh Rahbar

The deployment of robots for Gas Source Lo- calization (GSL) tasks in hazardous scenarios significantly reduces the risk to humans and animals. Gas sensing using mobile robots focuses primarily on simplified scenarios, due to the complexity of gas dispersi ...

2023

Ultra-tunable bistable structures for universal robotic applications

Jamie Paik, Lei Wang, Ke Liu, Hongying Zhang, Yongkang Jiang, Xin Tong

Bistable structures in nature are unparalleled for their fast response and force amplification even with the most minute physical stimula-tion. However, current works on bistable structures mainly focus on their stable states, while promising intermediate ...

CELL PRESS2023

Mean Field Type Control With Species Dependent Dynamics via Structured Tensor Optimization

Isabel Haasler, Axel Ringh, Yiqiang Chen

In this letter we consider mean field type control problems with multiple species that have different dynamics. We formulate the discretized problem using a new type of entropy-regularized multimarginal optimal transport problems where the cost is a decomp ...

2023

Beyond undulation! Body morphology and sensing components of elongated animals and robots reveal skills to maintain competent locomotion

Laura Isabel Paez Coy

Locomotion is an essential evolutive innovation of living beings that allows them to colonize and dominate the planet. As diverse as animal morphologies are (living) and were (extinct), their locomotion modalities are also diverse. In particular, animal mo ...

EPFL2023

Accessible Soft Robotics Education with Re-configurable Balloon Robots

Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Kieran Daniel Gilday, Yi-Shiun Wu

Soft robotics requires effective tools to educate the next generation of engineers and researchers. Stemming from a lack of universally accepted principles for education and with high barriers to entry in terms of fabrication and hardware, education to dat ...

IEEE2023

Inferring individual evaluation criteria for reaching trajectories with obstacle avoidance from EEG signals

Aude Billard, José del Rocio Millán Ruiz, Fumiaki Iwane

During reaching actions, the human central nerve system (CNS) generates the trajectories that optimize effort and time. When there is an obstacle in the path, we make sure that our arm passes the obstacle with a sufficient margin. This comfort margin varie ...

Nature Portfolio2023

Self-Correcting Quadratic Programming-Based Robot Control

Aude Billard, Farshad Khadivar, Konstantinos Chatzilygeroudis

Quadratic Programming (QP)-based controllers allow many robotic systems, such as humanoids, to successfully undertake complex motions and interactions. However, these approaches rely heavily on adequately capturing the underlying model of the environment a ...

2023

Prescribing Cartesian Stiffness of Soft Robots by Co-Optimization of Shape and Segment-Level Stiffness

Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Francesco Stella

Soft robots aim to revolutionize how robotic systems interact with the environment thanks to their inherent compliance. Some of these systems are even able to modulate their physical softness. However, simply equipping a robot with softness will not genera ...

MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC2023

Sensorless force and displacement estimation in soft actuators

Jamie Paik, Sagar Dattatray Joshi

Sensing forms an integral part of soft matter based robots due to their compliance, dependence on loading conditions, and virtually infinite degrees of freedom. Previous studies have developed several extrinsic sensors and embedded them into soft actuators ...

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY2023

Plasmonic Nanofluids: Enhancing Photothermal Gradients toward Liquid Robots

Giulia Tagliabue, Matteo Bevione

In situ energy generation in soft, flexible, autonomous devices is challenging due to the need for highly stretchable and fault-resistant components. Nanofluids with pyro-, tribo-, or thermoelectric properties have recently emerged as promising solutions f ...

Amer Chemical Soc2023

Soft Bending Actuator With Fiber-Jamming Variable Stiffness and Fiber-Optic Proprioception

Sudong Lee

Soft actuators with a function of variable stiffness are beneficial to the improvement of the adaptability of robots, expanding the application areas and environments. We propose a tendon-driven soft bending actuator that can change its stiffness using fib ...

Ieee-Inst Electrical Electronics Engineers Inc2023

Haptics based collaborative steering control in automated driving environments

Tomohiro Nakade

A vehicle's steering is a particular system in that it is exposed to individual subjective reviews based on criteria that are hard to assess quantitatively. Haptic design of such systems is a prime concern that has been at the center of industrial developm ...

EPFL2023

Reinforcement learning for scaffold-free construction of spanning-structures

Maryam Kamgarpour, Stefana Parascho, Gabriel Rémi Vallat, Anna Maria Maddux, Jingwen Wang

In construction robotics, a conventional design-to-fabrication work-flow starts with designing a structure, followed by task and robotic motion planning, and ultimately, fabrication. However, this approach can prove unsuccessful, as we may only discover th ...

New York2023

Identifying important sensory feedback for learning locomotion skills

Auke Ijspeert, Guillaume Denis Antoine Bellegarda, Milad Shafiee Ashtiani

Robot motor skills can be acquired by deep reinforcement learning as neural networks to reflect state-action mapping. The selection of states has been demonstrated to be crucial for successful robot motor learning. However, because of the complexity of neu ...

NATURE PORTFOLIO2023

Human Interactive Robotic Surfaces for Physical Immersion

Fabio Zuliani

Computers have long been augmenting human capabilities and communication, and with emerging technologies, physical immersion in virtual worlds is now attainable. These advancements push the boundaries of human potential, allowing designers, architects, eng ...

EPFL2023