26 accepted papers
Bipeds have demonstrated high agility and mobility in unstructured environments such as sand. The yielding of such granular media brings significant sinkage and slip of the bipedal feet, leading to uncertainty and instability of walking locomotion. We present a new dynamics-modeling approach to capt…
Robotic coverage tasks often require teams of robots to not only survey regions of interest but also trace and interact with linear features such as cracks, seams, or pipelines. We term this the double coverage problem, where robots must balance two competing roles: wide-area exploration for inspect…
Human feet are crucial for supporting body weight and adapting to complex terrains. Adult-acquired flatfoot deformity (AAFD) arises from congenital or acquired causes, impairing the foot's ability to transition between flexible and rigid states, known as the lock-unlock mechanism during the stance a…
Model-based robot control requires an accurate dynamics model and a machine learning-based method can extract robot dynamics from collected motion data by simulation and experiment. A Gaussian process (GP) has been used as one of the learning methods to obtain robot dynamics. To avoid large training
Human feet are crucial for supporting body weight and adapting to complex terrains. Adult-acquired flatfoot deformity (AAFD) arises from congenital or acquired causes, impairing the foot's ability to transition between flexible and rigid states, known as the lock-unlock mechanism during the stance a
With the rapid development of rehabilitation robotics, there is a pressing need for efficient and accurate gait prediction methods. However, due to the complexity and variability of individual gait characteristics and external disturbances, accurately predicting gait in real time remains a significa
The human foot arch plays a significant role in bearing weight, keeping balance, and walking efficiently. In this study, we present a pneumatic arch support insole (PASI) and a foot arch stiffness-based dynamic plantar support control to reduce the metabolic cost of walking. We first obtain the foot…
Legged robots have demonstrated high efficiency and effectiveness in unstructured and dynamic environments. However, it is still challenging for legged robots to achieve rapid and efficient locomotion on deformable, yielding substrates, such as granular terrains. We present an enhanced resistive for…
We present a forward kinematics method for object handling and transporting by a multi-robot team with a deformable sheet as a carrier. Due to the deformability of the sheet and the high dimension of the whole system, it is challenging to clearly describe all the possible positions of the object on
External and internal convertible (EIC) form-based motion control (i.e., EIC-based control) is one of the effective approaches for underactuated balance robots. By sequentially controller design, trajectory tracking of the actuated subsystem and balance of the unactuated subsystem can be achieved si…
Foot slip is one of the leading causes of fall-related injuries during human walking. The underlying slip dynamics help understand bipedal recoverability under gait perturbation and therefore provide a tool to design proactive slip-induced fall prevention strategies. We present a new integrated wear
Tracking control of underactuated balance robots needs to estimate balance profiles, that is, balance equilibrium manifold (BEM) of the unactuated subsystems. We present a learning-based approach to obtain the balance manifold for underactuated balance robots. We first establish the relationship bet…
Using a deformable sheet to handle objects is convenient and found in many practical applications. For object manipulation through a deformable sheet that is held by multiple mobile robots, it is a challenging task to model the object-sheet interactions. We present a computational model and algorith
Load-carrying capability is an essential criterion in legged robots' practical application. This paper proposes an unpowered hydraulic auxiliary system to improve the legged robot's loading capability and energy efficiency. For humans, it has been widely hypothesized that intra-abdominal pressure ca…
Modern agriculture relies on accurate and timely data. Currently, most of this data is gathered using remote sensing, which uses a combination of satellite and aerial imagery. However, ground robots are needed to fill in the gaps for finer ground-level data and the execution of physical tasks such a…
Real-time lower limbs motion or gait measurement is an important part in human-robotic interaction for the control of robotic walkers and rehabilitation devices. Laser range finder or infrared sensor that is mounted on the device has been widely used in applications. Although these sensors can provi…
We present a Gaussian process (GP)-based tracking control of underactuated balance robots in which an actuated subsystem is required to follow a desired trajectory, while an unactuated, unstable subsystem needs to be kept balanced. The GP models are used to capture the coupling effects between the a
Automatic gait measurement and analysis is an enabling tool for intelligent healthcare and robotics-assisted rehabilitation. This letter proposes a novel two shank-mounted inertial measurement units (IMU)-based method on gait analysis and classification for three different neurological diseases. The
A simultaneous robotic footprint and sensor coverage planning scheme is proposed to efficiently detect all the unknown targets with range sensors and cover the targets with the robot's footprint in a structured environment. The proposed online Sensor-based Complete Coverage (online SCC) planning min…
Control of underactuated balance robot requires external subsystem trajectory tracking and internal unstable subsystem balancing with limited control authority. We present a learning-based control approach for underactuated balance robots. The tracking and balancing control is designed the controlle…
We report a localization method that does not rely on the perception and recognition of landmarks for a robot/vehicle traveling in urban area. This is intended to be a fall back solution when everything else fails due to bad weather or other environmental challenges. The method is also very low cost
Inspired by the inchworm locomotion mechanism, this paper presents our recently developed self-deformable capsule-like robot. The robot has the actuated deformation capability that relies on a novel rigid elements-based morphing structure (REMS) and its soft actuation mechanisms. When the robot defo…
We present trajectory tracking and balance control of an autonomous bikebot. The bikebot is a single-track autonomous mobile robot that is designed to study unstable physical human-robot interactions. The controller is built on the property of the external-internal convertible (EIC) structure for th…
We present a drift-free pose estimation scheme for rigid body and its supporting platform by fusing only two gyroscopes and the relative complementary measurements. The fusion design not only provides robust relative attitude estimation between the rigid body and the platform, but also is capable of…
Slip is the major cause of falls in human locomotion. We present a new bipedal modeling approach to capture and predict human walking locomotion with slips. Compared with the existing bipedal models, the proposed slip walking model includes the human foot rolling effects, the existence of the double…
Dynamic modeling of human bipedal walking is important for studying human locomotion and designing assistive and rehabilitation robotic devices. Physical principle-based models and data-driven learning models are two main methods to obtain human walking dynamics. We present analysis and connections…