The Infona portal uses cookies, i.e. strings of text saved by a browser on the user's device. The portal can access those files and use them to remember the user's data, such as their chosen settings (screen view, interface language, etc.), or their login data. By using the Infona portal the user accepts automatic saving and using this information for portal operation purposes. More information on the subject can be found in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By closing this window the user confirms that they have read the information on cookie usage, and they accept the privacy policy and the way cookies are used by the portal. You can change the cookie settings in your browser.
In this paper, we present a new dynamic model for a carangiform robotic fish by merging rigid-body dynamics with Lighthill's large-amplitude elongated-body theory. In addition, we refine the model by introducing an effective approach to the evaluation of time-varying drag force and moment coefficients. It is known that these coefficients vary with the angle of attack, but the angle of attack oscillates...
The success of swarm behaviors often depends on the range at which robots can communicate and the speed at which they change their behavior. Challenges arise when the communication range is too small with respect to the dynamics of the robot, preventing interactions from lasting long enough to achieve coherent swarming. To alleviate this dependency, most swarm experiments done in laboratory environments...
This paper presents a new technique for sparsification of the information matrix of a multi-dimensional Gaussian distribution. We call this technique Conservative Sparsification (CS) and show that it produces estimates which are consistent with respect to an optimal filter. This technique was applied to the Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) problem, and compared with two existing sparsification...
In this paper, an novel tree gripping mechanism has been proposed for miniature tree-climbing robots. It is capable of attaching on a wide variety of trees with a wide range of gripping curvature. In addition, it is lightweight and simple in control. The gripper is simple in control as it is actuated by one actuator only. In addition, the omni-directional gripping ability also simplifies the use of...
This paper presents a scalable information theoretic approach to infer the state of an environment by distributively controlling robots equipped with sensors. The robots iteratively estimate the environment state using a recursive Bayesian filter, while continuously moving to improve the quality of the estimate by following the gradient of mutual information. Both the filter and the controller use...
We present a novel computationally efficient approach to obstacle detection that is applicable to both structured (e.g. indoor, road) and unstructured (e.g. off-road, grassy terrain) environments. In contrast to previous works that attempt to explicitly identify obstacles, we explicitly detect scene regions that are traversable - safe for the robot to go to - from its current position. Traversability...
Recent work in the domain of classification of point clouds has shown that topic models can be suitable tools for inferring class groupings in an unsupervised manner. However, point clouds are frequently subject to non-negligible amounts of sensor noise. In this paper, we analyze the effect on classification accuracy of noise added to both an artificial data set and data collected from a Light Detection...
We consider the perceptual challenges inherent in the robotic manipulation of previously unseen socks, with the end goal of manipulation by a household robot for laundry. The task poses challenging problems in modeling the appearance, shape and configuration of these textile items that tend to exhibit high variability in texture, design, and style while being highly articulated objects.
This paper presents the humanoid robot Acroban. We study two main issues: 1) Compliance and semi-passive dynamics for locomotion of humanoid robots regarding robustness against unknown external perturbations; 2) The advantages of a bio-inspired multi-articulated vertebral column. We combine mechatronic compliance with structural compliance due to the use of flexible materials. And we explore how these...
This paper presents a new asynchronous approach for haptic rendering of deformable objects. When stiff nonlinear deformations take place, they introduce important and rapid variations of the force sent to the user. This problem is similar to the stiff virtual wall for which a high refresh rate is required to obtain a stable haptic feedback. However, when dealing with several interacting deformable...
Segmenting complex movements into a sequence of primitives remains a difficult problem with many applications in the robotics and vision communities. In this work, we show how the movement segmentation problem can be reduced to a sequential movement recognition problem. To this end, we reformulate the original Dynamic Movement Primitive (DMP) formulation as a linear dynamical system with control inputs...
A gait trainer, NaTUre-gaits (natural and tunable rehabilitation gait system), has been developed to provide assistance for the gait rehabilitation. The gait rehabilitation system can provide mobility for an overground locomotion in forward walking and turning by a mobile platform. The exoskeleton modules are mounted on the mobile platform and attached to the lower limbs and pelvis in parallel. The...
In this paper, we proposed a method to recognize complex human daily activities including body activities and hand gestures simultaneously in an indoor environment. Three wearable motion sensors are attached to the right thigh, the waist, and the right hand of a person, while an optical motion capture system is used to obtain his/her location information. A three-level dynamic Bayesian network is...
This paper describes and evaluates a 3-D kinematic controller for passively-steered rovers. Passively-steered rovers have no steering motors, but rely on differential wheel velocities to change the axle steer angles. This passive steering design is reliable and efficient but more challenging to control than powered steering designs, especially when driving on rough terrain. A controller based on 2-D...
Multiple robots can be teleoperated by a single operator to provide enhanced capacity and efficiency on accomplishing complicated tasks. The design of this kind of systems is challenging because simultaneously tele-controlling multiple robots exceeds the ability of one single operator. The intelligence and autonomy of the robots need to be integrated into the system. Besides, the communication between...
We describe the design of an active soft ankle-foot orthotic device powered by pneumatic artificial muscles for treating gait pathologies associated with neuromuscular disorders. The design is inspired by the biological musculoskeletal system of a human foot and a lower leg, and mimics the muscle-tendon-ligament structure. A key feature of the device is that it is fabricated with flexible and soft...
Many multi-robot decision problems present autonomous agents with a dual challenge: the accurate egocentric estimation of the state and strategy of their adversaries, in the face of physical limitations and sensory uncertainty. Although these are clearly difficult constraints on the capabilities of an autonomous robot, this is also an opportunity for exploiting the corresponding limitations of the...
To know the pose of the robot is one of the central requirements in many applications. A localization algorithm should be robust, it should give the estimate of unreliability and it should be able to recover from errors. The above requirements are often trade offs with the computational complexity. This paper presents a global localization algorithm that matches a local point map (acquired e.g. with...
In this paper, we propose a shooting manipulation system for manipulating a distant object in an instant. The proposed system mechanistically acts on a remote target by constraining an end-effector catapulted by an impulsive air flow through a flexible string connected with an elastic cantilever. Experimental results shows that the proposed shooting manipulation system has excellent basic performances...
In the emerging field of soft robotics, there is an interest in developing new kinds of sensors whose characteristics do not affect the intrinsic compliance of soft robot components. Additionally, non-invasive shape and deflection sensors may provoke improved solutions to assist in the control of mechanical parts in these robots. Herein, we introduce a novel method for deflection sensing where an...
Set the date range to filter the displayed results. You can set a starting date, ending date or both. You can enter the dates manually or choose them from the calendar.