2014 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems

Manipulating unknown objects in a cluttered environment is difficult because object composition is uncertain. Because of this uncertainty, earlier work has concentrated on finding the “best” object composition and based on this composition decided on manipulation actions. Contrary to earlier work, we 1) utilize different possible object compositions in decision making, 2) take advant... View full abstract»

In this paper we present applications for a robot system whose gripper is equipped with distributed capacitive tactile proximity sensors (CTPS). Firstly, we introduce and evaluate a closed loop control scheme by which it is possible to align the gripper to objects or features of the environment using proximity values alone. We call this control method proximity servoing. It is implemented by equil... View full abstract»

This paper proposes a multi-joint-gripper that achieves envelope grasping for unknown shape objects. Proposed mechanism is based on a chain of Differential Gear Systems (DGS) controlled by only one motor. It also has a Variable Stiffness Mechanism (VSM) that controls joint stiffness to relieve interfering effects suffered from grasping environment and achieve a dexterous grasping. The experiments ... View full abstract»

The paper deals with 5 finger hand based on the original finger mechanism consisting of a planetary gear system and serially connected four bar linkages. It takes an all-in-one design: all of the actuators (total five DC motors) are embedded into a palm, while finger parts do not have any electronic devices for attaining to be inherently safe as an end-effector. The mechanism allows us adaptive sy... View full abstract»

In this paper, mechanical design and implementation of a low-cost and lightweight inflatable robot finger are proposed. The proposed soft inflatable robot finger is different from traditional designs. It uses a common and low cost inflatable material and can be easily and massively manufactured. The proposed soft inflatable finger only weighs 0.8 grams, but can well realize swift movement which is... View full abstract»

This paper examines aspects of robot hand performance specific to grasping and perching from an aerial vehicle and shows how various hand design parameters affect performance. Specifically, we consider hand performance when subject to external forces imparted to the hand from carrying a payload or from perching on a fixed item and explore the impact of design and grasp parameters including tendon ... View full abstract»

In this paper, we propose a robust model free control scheme of minimal complexity (it is a static scheme involving very few and simple calculations to output the control signal) for robotic manipulators, capable of achieving prescribed transient and steady state performance. No information regarding the robot dynamic model is employed in the design procedure. Moreover, the tracking performance of... View full abstract»

Efficient manipulation requires contact to reduce uncertainty. The manipulation literature refers to this as funneling: a methodology for increasing reliability and robustness by leveraging haptic feedback and control of environmental interaction. However, there is a fundamental gap between traditional approaches to trajectory optimization and this concept of robustness by funneling: traditional t... View full abstract»

We consider the problem of manipulating a planar elastic rod using robotic grippers which grasp the rod at multiple points. Building upon previous work that considers a rod held only at its ends, we show that manipulating a rod held by n + 1 grippers is equivalent to planning a path on a smooth 3n-dimensional manifold. Using multiple grippers can be advantageous when manipulating around obstacles.... View full abstract»

The work addresses the problem of clothing perception and manipulation by a two armed industrial robot aiming at a real-time automated folding of a piece of garment spread out on a flat surface. A complete solution combining vision sensing, garment segmentation and understanding, planning of the manipulation and its real execution on a robot is proposed. A new polygonal model of a garment is intro... View full abstract»

This work addresses a vision-based target tracking problem between a mobile observer and a target in the presence of a circular obstacle. The task of keeping the target in the observer's field-of-view is modeled as a pursuit-evasion game by assuming that the target is adversarial in nature. Due to the presence of obstacles, this is formulated as a game with state constraints. The objective of the ... View full abstract»

This paper presents a visibility-based method for planning the motion of a mobile robotic sensor with bounded field-of-view to optimally track a moving target while localizing itself. The target and robot states are estimated from online sensor measurements and a set of a priori known landmarks, using an extended Kalman filter (EKF), and thus the proposed method is applicable to robots without a g... View full abstract»

In this paper we consider a probabilistic model of a pursuit-evasion game on Rn, in which neither pursuer nor evader positions are known with certainty. Both parties are represented by normal distributions that evolve according to a Kalman filter as new sensor readings (observation from overhead camera/satellite images) are obtained. The objective is to design the control commands issued by the pu... View full abstract»

This paper presents a novel control approach to dynamic visual servo control multi-fingered robotic hands for the manipulation performance of an object. The control approach allows the path tracking of the object motion by means of visual information and takes into account both the dynamics model of the robot hand and the grasping force of the fingertips. In addition, an optimal approach is employ... View full abstract»

This paper presents a camera control approach for learning unknown nonlinear target dynamics by approximating information value functions using particles that represent targets' position distributions. The target dynamics are described by a non-parametric mixture model that can learn a potentially infinite number of motion patterns. Assuming that each motion pattern can be represented as a velocit... View full abstract»

In order to realize accurate target tracking for remote operated vehicle, this study has analyzed the tension force from the tether and model based dynamic control strategy. For precise control, the tether effects have been analyzed through a partial differential equation. Each element of the tether has been taken as an elastic body, and the tether has been divided into two parts: in the air and i... View full abstract»

An essential aspect for making robots succeed in real-world environments is to give them the ability to robustly perform motions in continuously changing situations. Classical motion planning methods usually create plans for static environments. The direct execution of such plans in dynamic environments often becomes problematic. We present an approach that adapts motion plans by feeding changes o... View full abstract»

This paper presents an analysis of the synchronization and consensus problems of networked manipulators operating on an underactuated dynamic platform. The proposed formulation does not require detailed information about the system model. A theoretical analysis shows that the controlled system's behavior matches closely to that of a nonadaptive reference system with fast adaptation. The tracking-s... View full abstract»

Benchmark problems continue to represent an actively studied domain, focusing on application-based situations, where controllers have to deal with typical real environments. In this paper, a Robust Fixed Point Transformations (RFPT)-based Model Reference Adaptive Controller (MRAC) is designed for a modified Translational Oscillations by a Rotational Actuator (TORA) system, which is an indirectly d... View full abstract»

This paper introduces a motion generation framework that integrates a hierarchical movement primitive (MP) layer with optimal control in form of receding horizon optimization. In order to benefit from fast reactions on the MP-layer, the optimal control layer can be overridden in risky situations to generate quick, though non-optimal solutions. By this, the system fulfills four desirable properties... View full abstract»

We propose a discriminative and compact scene descriptor for single-view place recognition that facilitates long-term visual SLAM in familiar, semi-dynamic and partially changing environments. In contrast to popular bag-of-words scene descriptors, which rely on a library of vector quantized visual features, our proposed scene descriptor is based on a library of raw image data (such as an available... View full abstract»

Indoor localization is the fundamental capability for indoor service robots and indoor applications on mobile devices. To realize that, the cost of sensors is of great concern. In order to decode the signal carried out by the LED beacons, we propose two reliable solutions using common sensors available on consumer electronic devices. Firstly, we introduce a dedicated analog sensor, which can be di... View full abstract»

We present an approach for 2D sensor network localization when only bearing measurements are available and no global coordinate frame is known. Our work builds off of the linear constraint given in Kennedy et al. (2012) for sets of nodes that form triangles. We extend that constraint to general networks and present methods for locally optimizing the resulting cost function. We also show how these ... View full abstract»

Accurate estimation of camera motion is very important for many robotics applications involving SfM and visual SLAM. Such accuracy is attempted by refining the estimated motion through nonlinear optimization. As many modern robots are equipped with both 2D and 3D cameras, it is both highly desirable and challenging to exploit data acquired from both modalities to achieve a better localization. Exi... View full abstract»