7 accepted papers
Devising deep latent variable models for multi-modal data has been a long-standing theme in machine learning research. Multi-modal Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) have been a popular generative model class that learns latent representations that jointly explain multiple modalities. Various objective…
While modeling multi-contact manipulation as a quasi-static mechanical process transitioning between different contact equilibria, we propose formulating it as a planning and optimization problem, explicitly evaluating (i) contact stability and (ii) robustness to sensor noise. Specifically, we condu
Contact-rich manipulation often requires strategic interactions with objects, such as pushing to accomplish specific tasks. We propose a novel scenario where a robot inserts a book into a crowded shelf by pushing aside neighboring books to create space before slotting the new book into place. Classi
In this work, we present a simplified quasi-static model of a two-point contact gripper turning a circular valve to predict the reaction torques produced at the base of the valve as a function of the axis misalignment. Specifically, we learned that geometric features such as (i) the misalignment vec…
The domain of robotics is challenging to apply deep reinforcement learning due to the need for large amounts of data and for ensuring safety during learning. Curriculum learning has shown good performance in terms of sample-efficient deep learning. In this paper, we propose an algorithm (named GloCA…
In this paper we present a methodology for optimising the design of a metamaterial structure with one degree of freedom that is able to simultaneously bend and stretch. The structure is intended for assisting flexion-extension of the wrist joint. The metamaterial is comprised of serially connected,…
Current robotic rehabilitation devices have a high cost-to-benefit ratio, which prevents their large scale adoption by the clinical rehabilitation community. This paper first presents H-Man, a low cost planar robot, as a quantitative assessment and training tool. This is followed by a preliminary st…