A Versatile Neural Network Configuration Space Planning and Control Strategy for Modular Soft Robot Arms
Biorobotics Institute and the Department of Excellence in Robotics and AI（生物机器人研究所和机器人与人工智能卓越部门）；Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna（圣安娜高等学院）；CREATE Lab（CREATE实验室）；EPFL（瑞士联邦理工学院）
模块化软体机器人臂（MSRA）由多个模块按顺序连接而成，能够在不同方向上以不同角度弯曲。这一能力使MSRA能够执行比单模块机器人更复杂的任务。然而，模块化结构也给精确规划与控制带来了挑战。非线性与迟滞使物理模型复杂化，而模块化结构和增多的自由度进一步导致沿序列累积误差。为应对这些挑战，我们提出了一种面向MSRA的通用构型空间规划与控制策略，命名为S2C2A（State to Configuration to Action，从状态到构型再到动作）。我们的方法构建了一个优化问题S2C（State to Configuration planning，从状态到构型规划），该问题整合了多种损失函数以及一个基于biLSTM的前向模型，以根据目标状态生成构型轨迹。同时实现了一个基于biLSTM的构型控制器C2A（Configuration to Action control，从构型到动作控制），仅利用不精确的内部传感反馈来跟踪所规划的构型轨迹。我们使用一个绳索驱动的MSRA验证了该策略，展示了其执行多种离线任务的能力，例如位置与姿态控制以及避障。此外，我们的策略赋予MSRA与目标和障碍物进行在线交互的能力。未来工作将聚焦于解决MSRA所面临的挑战，例如建立更精确的物理模型。
英文摘要：
Modular soft robot arms (MSRAs) are composed of multiple modules connected in a sequence, and they can bend at different angles in various directions. This capability allows MSRAs to perform more intricate tasks than single-module robots. However, the modular structure also induces challenges in accurate planning and control. Nonlinearity and hysteresis complicate the physical model, while the modular structure and increased DOFs further lead to cumulative errors along the sequence. To address these challenges, we propose a versatile configuration space planning and control strategy for MSRAs, named S2C2A (State to Configuration to Action). Our approach formulates an optimization problem, S2C (State to Configuration planning), which integrates various loss functions and a forward model based on biLSTM to generate configuration trajectories based on target states. A configuration controller C2A (Configuration to Action control) based on biLSTM is implemented to follow the planned configuration trajectories, leveraging only inaccurate internal sensing feedback. We validate our strategy using a cable-driven MSRA, demonstrating its ability to perform diverse offline tasks such as position and orientation control and obstacle avoidance. Furthermore, our strategy endows MSRA with online interaction capability with targets and obstacles. Future work focuses on addressing MSRA challenges, such as more accurate physical models.
A Novel Modular Cable-Driven Soft Robotic Arm with Multi-Segment Reconfigurability
Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Mississippi State University（农业与生物工程系，密苏里州立大学）；Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University（电气与计算机工程系，密苏里州立大学）；Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Dallas, Texas A&M University（德克萨斯A&M大学达拉斯分校农业与生命科学研究中心）
We present an interactive, computational design system for creating custom robotic arms given high-level task descriptions and environmental constraints. Various task requirements can be encoded as desired motion trajectories for the robot arm's end-effector. Given such end-effector trajectories, our system enables on-demand design of custom robot arms using a library of modular and reconfigurable parts such as actuators and connecting links. By searching through the combinatorial set of possible arrangements of these parts, our method generates a functional, as-simple-as-possible robot arm th…
The Dodecacopter: a Versatile Multirotor System of Dodecahedron-Shaped Modules
University of California, Irvine（加利福尼亚大学欧文分校）；Texas Tech University（德克萨斯理工大学）；optimAero LLC（optimAero有限责任公司）；King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)（阿卜杜拉国王科技大学）
Plant-inspired behavior-based controller to enable reaching in redundant continuum robot arms
The BioRobotics Institute, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies（圣安娜高等研究院生物机器人研究所）；Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore（新加坡国立大学机械工程系）
The University of Southern Denmark（南丹麦大学）；Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology（维迪亚西里梅迪科技学院）
Legged robots have significant potential to operate in highly unstructured environments. The design of locomotion control is, however, still challenging. Currently, controllers must be either manually designed for specific robots and tasks, or automatically designed via machine learning methods that require long training times and yield large opaque controllers. Drawing inspiration from animal locomotion, we propose a simple yet versatile modular neural control structure with fast learning. The key advantages of our approach are that behavior-specific control modules can be added incrementally…
This paper describes the development of a humanoid robot called ARDOP. The goal of the project is to provide a modular, open-source, and inexpensive humanoid robot that would enable researchers to answer various problems related to robotic manipulation and perception. ARDOP primarily comprises of two functional units namely the perception and manipulation system, here we discuss the conceptualization and design methodology of these systems and proceed to present their performance results on simulation and various custom-designed experiments.
Hanson Robotics Ltd（汉森机器人有限公司）；Indian Institute of Science（印度科学学院）；ARTPARK（ARTPARK（人工智能与机器人技术园区））
Open Arms is a novel open-source platform of realistic human-like robotic hands and arms hardware with 28 Degree-of-Freedom (DoF), designed to extend the capabilities and accessibility of humanoid robotic grasping and manipulation. The Open Arms framework includes an open SDK and development environment, simulation tools, and application development tools to build and operate Open Arms. This paper describes these hands controls, sensing, mechanisms, aesthetic design, and manufacturing and their real-world applications with a teleoperated nursing robot. From 2015 to 2022, the authors have desig…
In this paper, we present a new multibody physics simulation framework that utilizes the subsystem-based structure and the Alternating Direction Method of Multiplier (ADMM). The major challenge in simulating complex high degree of freedom systems is a large number of coupled constraints and large-sized matrices. To address this challenge, we first split the multibody into several subsystems and reformulate the dynamics equation into a subsystem perspective based on the structure of their interconnection. Then we utilize ADMM with our novel subsystem-based variable splitting scheme to solve the…
We introduce UFO, a modular aerial robotic platform for transforming a rigid object into a multirotor robot. To achieve this, we develop flight modules, in the form of a control module and propelling modules, that can be affixed to an object. The object, or payload, serves as the airframe of the vehicle. The modular design produces a highly versatile platform as it is reconfigurable by the addition or removal of flight modules, adjustment of the modules' arrangement, or change of payloads. To facilitate the flight control, we propose an IMU-based estimation strategy for rapid computation of th…
ETH Zurich（苏黎世联邦理工学院）；Arrival Ltd（Arrival有限公司）；Voliro（Voliro公司）；Microsoft（微软）
Integration of multiple sensor modalities and deep learning into Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) systems are areas of significant interest in current research. Multi-modality is a stepping stone towards achieving robustness in challenging environments and interoperability of heterogeneous multi-robot systems with varying sensor setups. With maplab 2.0, we provide a versatile open-source platform that facilitates developing, testing, and integrating new modules and features into a fully-fledged SLAM system. Through extensive experiments, we show that maplab 2.0's accuracy is compar…
Assembling Solar Panels by Dual Robot Arms Towards Full Autonomous Lunar Base Construction
Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome（计算机、控制与管理工程系，罗马萨皮恩扎大学）；Space Robotics Lab. (SRL) in Department of Aerospace Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University（航空航天工程系研究生院空间机器人实验室（SRL），东北大学）
Prismatic-Bending Transformable (PBT) Joint for a Modular, Foldable Manipulator with Enhanced Reachability and Dexterity
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校机械工程系）；The Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong（香港中文大学机械与自动化工程系）；FANUC Advanced Research Laboratory, FANUC America Corporation, USA（FANUC美国公司先进研究实验室）
The logistics of transporting a package from a storage facility to the consumer's front door usually employs highly specialized robots often times splitting sub-tasks up to different systems, e.g., manipulator arms to sort and wheeled vehicles to deliver. More recent endeavors attempt to have a unified approach with legged and humanoid robots. These solutions, however, occupy large amounts of space thus reducing the number of packages that can fit into a delivery vehicle. As a result, these bulky robotic systems often reduce the potential for scalability and task parallelization. In this paper…
A long-cherished vision in robotics is to equip robots with skills that match the versatility and precision of humans. For example, when playing table tennis, a robot should be capable of returning the ball in various ways while precisely placing it at the desired location. A common approach to model such versatile behavior is to use a Mixture of Experts (MoE) model, where each expert is a contextual motion primitive. However, learning such MoEs is challenging as most objectives force the model to cover the entire context space, which prevents specialization of the primitives resulting in rath…
Electromagnetic systems have been used extensively for the control magnetically actuated objects, such as in microrheology and microrobotics research. Therefore, optimizing the design of such systems is highly desired. Some of the features that are lacking in most current designs are compactness, portability, and versatility. Portability is especially relevant for biomedical applications in which in vivo or in vitro testing may be conducted in locations away from the laboratory microscope. This document describes the design, fabrication and implementation of a compact, low cost, versatile, and…
In this paper we will give a control theoretic perspective on the research area of behavior trees in robotics. The key idea underlying behavior trees is to make use of modularity, hierarchies and feedback, in order to handle the complexity of a versatile robot control system. Modularity is a well-known tool to handle software complexity by enabling development, debugging and extension of separate modules without having detailed knowledge of the entire system. A hierarchy of such modules is natural, since robot tasks can often be decomposed into a hierarchy of sub-tasks. Finally, feedback contr…
