22 accepted papers
We propose MoRe-ERL, a framework that combines Episodic Reinforcement Learning (ERL) and residual learning, which refines preplanned reference trajectories into safe, feasible, and efficient task-specific trajectories. This framework is general enough to incorporate into arbitrary ERL methods and mo…
Containerization and orchestration using cloud-native technologies enable scalable deployment of robotic software. Integrating ROS~2 with Kubernetes offers a flexible infrastructure, but also introduces a complex, multi-layered communication stack - from DDS middleware to container networks and the …
This paper presents ETA-IK, a novel Execution-Time-Aware Inverse Kinematics method tailored for dual-arm robotic systems. The primary goal is to optimize motion execution time by leveraging the redundancy of the entire system, specifically in tasks where only the relative pose of the robots is const
In this letter, we present a touch technology to achieve tactile interactivity for human-robot interaction (HRI) in soft robotics. By combining a capacitive touch sensor with an online solid mechanics simulation provided by the SOFA framework, contact detection is achieved for arbitrary shapes. Furt
Insertion tasks are fundamental yet challenging for robots, particularly in autonomous operations, due to their continuous interaction with the environment. AI-based approaches appear to be up to the challenge, but in production they must not only achieve high success rates. They must also ensure in
We address the problem of robotic grasping of known and unknown objects using implicit behavior cloning. We train a grasp evaluation model from a small number of demonstrations that outputs higher values for grasp candidates that are more likely to succeed in grasping. This evaluation model serves a…
Offloading software modules to the edge/cloud can enhance a robot’s capabilities by leveraging massive computing power. However, determining which software module should be offloaded and scheduled to which robot/edge/cloud node is a challenging task, particularly for robot fleets with diverse tasks.…
Path planning in a changing environment is a challenging task in robotics, as moving objects impose time-dependent constraints. Recent planning methods primarily focus on the spatial aspects, lacking the capability to directly incorporate time constraints. In this paper, we propose a method that lev…
As advanced algorithms enable robots to handle more challenging tasks and operate more autonomously, the on-board computer cannot meet the increased demands regarding computing power and memory storage in an efficient way. Leveraging the massive computing power of the cloud and low-latency connectiv…
This paper proposes a reachability-aware model predictive control with a discrete control barrier function for backward obstacle avoidance for a tractor-trailer system. The framework incorporates the state-variant reachable set obtained through sampling-based reachability analysis and symbolic regre…
Precise pick-and-place is essential in robotic applications. To this end, we define an exact training method and an iterative inference method that improve pick-and-place precision with Transporter Networks [1]. We conduct a large scale experiment on 8 simulated tasks. A systematic analysis shows, t…
The promising automation of flexible surgical instruments and robots is impeded by the lack of sensory means, which allow for sensing of an instrument's position to the surrounding tissue. This work presents a novel sensory method utilizing capacitive proximity sensing to derive a relative localizat…
A robot must comply with very restrictive safety standards in close human-robot collaboration applications. These standards limit the robot's performance because of speed reductions to avoid potentially large forces exerted on humans during collisions. On-robot capacitive proximity sensors (CPS) can…
With the goal of efficiently computing collisionfree robot motion trajectories in dynamically changing environments, we present results of a novel method for Heuristics Informed Robot Online Path Planning (HIRO). Dividing robot environments into static and dynamic elements, we use the static part fo…
During the co-presence of human workers and robots, measures are required to avoid injuries from undesired contacts. Capacitive Proximity Sensors (CPSs) offer a cost-effective solution to cover the entire robot manipulator with fast close-range perception for HRC tasks, closing the perception gap be…
As it happens, despite yet unmatched by robots perception and motor skills humans drop objects during handover because of false grasp detection and early release. Accordingly, the fluent robot-human handover is still an open challenge. This paper presents an approach to a natural robot to human hand…
In this letter, we address the challenge of sensor fusion in Soft Robotics for estimating forces and deformations. In the context of intrinsic sensing, we propose the use of soft capacitive sensing to find a contact's location, and the use of pneumatic sensing to estimate the force intensity and the
Hand guidance emerged from the safety requirements for collaborative robots, namely possessing joint-torque sensors. Since then it has proven to be a powerful tool for easy trajectory programming, allowing lay-users to reprogram robots intuitively. Going beyond, a robot can learn tasks by user demon…
Current research suggests that physical activity has positive effects on the overall state of people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and that the use of new technologies could help those people to keep and improve their postural control and motor skills. In a pilot study, we investigated the us
In this paper we present an approach for material recognition using capacitive tactile and proximity sensors. By variating the spatial resolution and the exciter frequency during the measurement in mutual capacitive mode, information about the dielectrical properties of different objects was capture…
A concept consisting of a new configurable vacuum gripper system and a corresponding method for determining optimal grasp configurations solely based on 3D vision is introduced. The robot system consists of a dynamically configurable vacuum gripper, a visual sensor, and a robot arm that are used in…
In this paper we show and evaluate the design of a novel telemanipulation system that maps proximity values, acquired inside of a gripper, to forces a user can feel through a haptic input device. The command console is complemented by input-devices that give the user an intuitive control over parame…