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189 results (View BibTeX file of all listed publications)

2015

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Learning Movement Primitive Attractor Goals and Sequential Skills from Kinesthetic Demonstrations

Manschitz, S., Kober, J., Gienger, M., Peters, J.

Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 74, Part A, pages: 97-107, 2015 (article)

am ei

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

2015

am ei Manschitz, S., Kober, J., Gienger, M., Peters, J. Learning Movement Primitive Attractor Goals and Sequential Skills from Kinesthetic Demonstrations Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 74, Part A, pages: 97-107, 2015 (article)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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Bayesian Optimization for Learning Gaits under Uncertainty

Calandra, R., Seyfarth, A., Peters, J., Deisenroth, M.

Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, pages: 1-19, 2015 (article)

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DOI [BibTex]

am ei Calandra, R., Seyfarth, A., Peters, J., Deisenroth, M. Bayesian Optimization for Learning Gaits under Uncertainty Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, pages: 1-19, 2015 (article)

DOI [BibTex]

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Towards Learning Hierarchical Skills for Multi-Phase Manipulation Tasks

Kroemer, O., Daniel, C., Neumann, G., van Hoof, H., Peters, J.

In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pages: 1503 - 1510, ICRA, 2015 (inproceedings)

am ei

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

am ei Kroemer, O., Daniel, C., Neumann, G., van Hoof, H., Peters, J. Towards Learning Hierarchical Skills for Multi-Phase Manipulation Tasks In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pages: 1503 - 1510, ICRA, 2015 (inproceedings)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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Force estimation and slip detection/classification for grip control using a biomimetic tactile sensor

Su, Z., Hausman, K., Chebotar, Y., Molchanov, A., Loeb, G. E., Sukhatme, G. S., Schaal, S.

In IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), pages: 297-303, 2015 (inproceedings)

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Su, Z., Hausman, K., Chebotar, Y., Molchanov, A., Loeb, G. E., Sukhatme, G. S., Schaal, S. Force estimation and slip detection/classification for grip control using a biomimetic tactile sensor In IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), pages: 297-303, 2015 (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Policy Learning with Hypothesis Based Local Action Selection

Sankaran, B., Bohg, J., Ratliff, N., Schaal, S.

In Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making, 2015 (inproceedings)

Abstract
For robots to be able to manipulate in unknown and unstructured environments the robot should be capable of operating under partial observability of the environment. Object occlusions and unmodeled environments are some of the factors that result in partial observability. A common scenario where this is encountered is manipulation in clutter. In the case that the robot needs to locate an object of interest and manipulate it, it needs to perform a series of decluttering actions to accurately detect the object of interest. To perform such a series of actions, the robot also needs to account for the dynamics of objects in the environment and how they react to contact. This is a non trivial problem since one needs to reason not only about robot-object interactions but also object-object interactions in the presence of contact. In the example scenario of manipulation in clutter, the state vector would have to account for the pose of the object of interest and the structure of the surrounding environment. The process model would have to account for all the aforementioned robot-object, object-object interactions. The complexity of the process model grows exponentially as the number of objects in the scene increases. This is commonly the case in unstructured environments. Hence it is not reasonable to attempt to model all object-object and robot-object interactions explicitly. Under this setting we propose a hypothesis based action selection algorithm where we construct a hypothesis set of the possible poses of an object of interest given the current evidence in the scene and select actions based on our current set of hypothesis. This hypothesis set tends to represent the belief about the structure of the environment and the number of poses the object of interest can take. The agent's only stopping criterion is when the uncertainty regarding the pose of the object is fully resolved.

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Web Project Page [BibTex]

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Learning Optimal Striking Points for A Ping-Pong Playing Robot

Huang, Y., Schölkopf, B., Peters, J.

In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pages: 4587-4592, IROS, 2015 (inproceedings)

am ei

PDF DOI [BibTex]

am ei Huang, Y., Schölkopf, B., Peters, J. Learning Optimal Striking Points for A Ping-Pong Playing Robot In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pages: 4587-4592, IROS, 2015 (inproceedings)

PDF DOI [BibTex]

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Model-Based Relative Entropy Stochastic Search

Abdolmaleki, A., Peters, J., Neumann, G.

In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 28, pages: 3523-3531, (Editors: C. Cortes, N.D. Lawrence, D.D. Lee, M. Sugiyama and R. Garnett), Curran Associates, Inc., 29th Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS), 2015 (inproceedings)

am ei

link (url) [BibTex]

am ei Abdolmaleki, A., Peters, J., Neumann, G. Model-Based Relative Entropy Stochastic Search In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 28, pages: 3523-3531, (Editors: C. Cortes, N.D. Lawrence, D.D. Lee, M. Sugiyama and R. Garnett), Curran Associates, Inc., 29th Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS), 2015 (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Modeling Spatio-Temporal Variability in Human-Robot Interaction with Probabilistic Movement Primitives

Ewerton, M., Neumann, G., Lioutikov, R., Ben Amor, H., Peters, J., Maeda, G.

In Workshop on Machine Learning for Social Robotics, ICRA, 2015 (inproceedings)

am ei

link (url) [BibTex]

am ei Ewerton, M., Neumann, G., Lioutikov, R., Ben Amor, H., Peters, J., Maeda, G. Modeling Spatio-Temporal Variability in Human-Robot Interaction with Probabilistic Movement Primitives In Workshop on Machine Learning for Social Robotics, ICRA, 2015 (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Extracting Low-Dimensional Control Variables for Movement Primitives

Rueckert, E., Mundo, J., Paraschos, A., Peters, J., Neumann, G.

In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pages: 1511-1518, ICRA, 2015 (inproceedings)

am ei

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

am ei Rueckert, E., Mundo, J., Paraschos, A., Peters, J., Neumann, G. Extracting Low-Dimensional Control Variables for Movement Primitives In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pages: 1511-1518, ICRA, 2015 (inproceedings)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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A New Perspective and Extension of the Gaussian Filter

Wüthrich, M., Trimpe, S., Kappler, D., Schaal, S.

In Robotics: Science and Systems, 2015 (inproceedings)

Abstract
The Gaussian Filter (GF) is one of the most widely used filtering algorithms; instances are the Extended Kalman Filter, the Unscented Kalman Filter and the Divided Difference Filter. GFs represent the belief of the current state by a Gaussian with the mean being an affine function of the measurement. We show that this representation can be too restrictive to accurately capture the dependencies in systems with nonlinear observation models, and we investigate how the GF can be generalized to alleviate this problem. To this end we view the GF from a variational-inference perspective, and analyze how restrictions on the form of the belief can be relaxed while maintaining simplicity and efficiency. This analysis provides a basis for generalizations of the GF. We propose one such generalization which coincides with a GF using a virtual measurement, obtained by applying a nonlinear function to the actual measurement. Numerical experiments show that the proposed Feature Gaussian Filter (FGF) can have a substantial performance advantage over the standard GF for systems with nonlinear observation models.

am ics

Web PDF Project Page [BibTex]

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Learning multiple collaborative tasks with a mixture of Interaction Primitives

Ewerton, M., Neumann, G., Lioutikov, R., Ben Amor, H., Peters, J., Maeda, G.

In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pages: 1535-1542, ICRA, 2015 (inproceedings)

am ei

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

am ei Ewerton, M., Neumann, G., Lioutikov, R., Ben Amor, H., Peters, J., Maeda, G. Learning multiple collaborative tasks with a mixture of Interaction Primitives In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pages: 1535-1542, ICRA, 2015 (inproceedings)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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Whole-body motor strategies for balancing on a beam when changing the number of available degrees of freedom

Chiovetto, E, Huber, M, Righetti, L., Schaal, S., Sternad, D, Giese, M.

In Progress in Motor Control X, Budapest, Hungry, 2015 (inproceedings)

am

[BibTex]

am Chiovetto, E, Huber, M, Righetti, L., Schaal, S., Sternad, D, Giese, M. Whole-body motor strategies for balancing on a beam when changing the number of available degrees of freedom In Progress in Motor Control X, Budapest, Hungry, 2015 (inproceedings)

[BibTex]

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From Humans to Robots and Back: Role of Arm Movement in Medio-lateral Balance Control

Huber, M, Chiovetto, E, Schaal, S., Giese, M., Sternad, D

In Annual Meeting of Neural Control of Movement, Charleston, NC, 2015 (inproceedings)

am

[BibTex]

am Huber, M, Chiovetto, E, Schaal, S., Giese, M., Sternad, D From Humans to Robots and Back: Role of Arm Movement in Medio-lateral Balance Control In Annual Meeting of Neural Control of Movement, Charleston, NC, 2015 (inproceedings)

[BibTex]

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Trajectory generation for multi-contact momentum control

Herzog, A., Rotella, N., Schaal, S., Righetti, L.

In 2015 IEEE-RAS 15th International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), pages: 874-880, IEEE, Seoul, South Korea, 2015 (inproceedings)

Abstract
Simplified models of the dynamics such as the linear inverted pendulum model (LIPM) have proven to perform well for biped walking on flat ground. However, for more complex tasks the assumptions of these models can become limiting. For example, the LIPM does not allow for the control of contact forces independently, is limited to co-planar contacts and assumes that the angular momentum is zero. In this paper, we propose to use the full momentum equations of a humanoid robot in a trajectory optimization framework to plan its center of mass, linear and angular momentum trajectories. The model also allows for planning desired contact forces for each end-effector in arbitrary contact locations. We extend our previous results on linear quadratic regulator (LQR) design for momentum control by computing the (linearized) optimal momentum feedback law in a receding horizon fashion. The resulting desired momentum and the associated feedback law are then used in a hierarchical whole body control approach. Simulation experiments show that the approach is computationally fast and is able to generate plans for locomotion on complex terrains while demonstrating good tracking performance for the full humanoid control.

am mg

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

am mg Herzog, A., Rotella, N., Schaal, S., Righetti, L. Trajectory generation for multi-contact momentum control In 2015 IEEE-RAS 15th International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), pages: 874-880, IEEE, Seoul, South Korea, 2015 (inproceedings)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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Humanoid Momentum Estimation Using Sensed Contact Wrenches

Rotella, N., Herzog, A., Schaal, S., Righetti, L.

In 2015 IEEE-RAS 15th International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), pages: 556-563, IEEE, Seoul, South Korea, 2015 (inproceedings)

Abstract
This work presents approaches for the estimation of quantities important for the control of the momentum of a humanoid robot. In contrast to previous approaches which use simplified models such as the Linear Inverted Pendulum Model, we present estimators based on the momentum dynamics of the robot. By using this simple yet dynamically-consistent model, we avoid the issues of using simplified models for estimation. We develop an estimator for the center of mass and full momentum which can be reformulated to estimate center of mass offsets as well as external wrenches applied to the robot. The observability of these estimators is investigated and their performance is evaluated in comparison to previous approaches.

am mg

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

am mg Rotella, N., Herzog, A., Schaal, S., Righetti, L. Humanoid Momentum Estimation Using Sensed Contact Wrenches In 2015 IEEE-RAS 15th International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), pages: 556-563, IEEE, Seoul, South Korea, 2015 (inproceedings)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

2013

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Probabilistic Object Tracking Using a Range Camera

Wüthrich, M., Pastor, P., Kalakrishnan, M., Bohg, J., Schaal, S.

In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pages: 3195-3202, IEEE, November 2013 (inproceedings)

Abstract
We address the problem of tracking the 6-DoF pose of an object while it is being manipulated by a human or a robot. We use a dynamic Bayesian network to perform inference and compute a posterior distribution over the current object pose. Depending on whether a robot or a human manipulates the object, we employ a process model with or without knowledge of control inputs. Observations are obtained from a range camera. As opposed to previous object tracking methods, we explicitly model self-occlusions and occlusions from the environment, e.g, the human or robotic hand. This leads to a strongly non-linear observation model and additional dependencies in the Bayesian network. We employ a Rao-Blackwellised particle filter to compute an estimate of the object pose at every time step. In a set of experiments, we demonstrate the ability of our method to accurately and robustly track the object pose in real-time while it is being manipulated by a human or a robot.

am

arXiv Video Code Video DOI Project Page [BibTex]

2013

am Wüthrich, M., Pastor, P., Kalakrishnan, M., Bohg, J., Schaal, S. Probabilistic Object Tracking Using a Range Camera In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pages: 3195-3202, IEEE, November 2013 (inproceedings)

arXiv Video Code Video DOI Project Page [BibTex]

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3-D Object Reconstruction of Symmetric Objects by Fusing Visual and Tactile Sensing

Illonen, J., Bohg, J., Kyrki, V.

The International Journal of Robotics Research, 33(2):321-341, Sage, October 2013 (article)

Abstract
In this work, we propose to reconstruct a complete 3-D model of an unknown object by fusion of visual and tactile information while the object is grasped. Assuming the object is symmetric, a first hypothesis of its complete 3-D shape is generated. A grasp is executed on the object with a robotic manipulator equipped with tactile sensors. Given the detected contacts between the fingers and the object, the initial full object model including the symmetry parameters can be refined. This refined model will then allow the planning of more complex manipulation tasks. The main contribution of this work is an optimal estimation approach for the fusion of visual and tactile data applying the constraint of object symmetry. The fusion is formulated as a state estimation problem and solved with an iterative extended Kalman filter. The approach is validated experimentally using both artificial and real data from two different robotic platforms.

am

Web DOI Project Page [BibTex]

am Illonen, J., Bohg, J., Kyrki, V. 3-D Object Reconstruction of Symmetric Objects by Fusing Visual and Tactile Sensing The International Journal of Robotics Research, 33(2):321-341, Sage, October 2013 (article)

Web DOI Project Page [BibTex]

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Hypothesis Testing Framework for Active Object Detection

Sankaran, B., Atanasov, N., Le Ny, J., Koletschka, T., Pappas, G., Daniilidis, K.

In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 2013, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
One of the central problems in computer vision is the detection of semantically important objects and the estimation of their pose. Most of the work in object detection has been based on single image processing and its performance is limited by occlusions and ambiguity in appearance and geometry. This paper proposes an active approach to object detection by controlling the point of view of a mobile depth camera. When an initial static detection phase identifies an object of interest, several hypotheses are made about its class and orientation. The sensor then plans a sequence of view-points, which balances the amount of energy used to move with the chance of identifying the correct hypothesis. We formulate an active M-ary hypothesis testing problem, which includes sensor mobility, and solve it using a point-based approximate POMDP algorithm. The validity of our approach is verified through simulation and experiments with real scenes captured by a kinect sensor. The results suggest a significant improvement over static object detection.

am

pdf [BibTex]

am Sankaran, B., Atanasov, N., Le Ny, J., Koletschka, T., Pappas, G., Daniilidis, K. Hypothesis Testing Framework for Active Object Detection In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 2013, clmc (inproceedings)

pdf [BibTex]

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Action and Goal Related Decision Variables Modulate the Competition Between Multiple Potential Targets

Enachescu, V, Christopoulos, Vassilios N, Schrater, P. R., Schaal, S.

In Abstracts of Neural Control of Movement Conference (NCM 2013), February 2013 (inproceedings)

am

[BibTex]

am Enachescu, V, Christopoulos, Vassilios N, Schrater, P. R., Schaal, S. Action and Goal Related Decision Variables Modulate the Competition Between Multiple Potential Targets In Abstracts of Neural Control of Movement Conference (NCM 2013), February 2013 (inproceedings)

[BibTex]

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Optimal control of reaching includes kinematic constraints

Mistry, M., Theodorou, E., Schaal, S., Kawato, M.

Journal of Neurophysiology, 2013, clmc (article)

Abstract
We investigate adaptation under a reaching task with an acceleration-based force field perturbation designed to alter the nominal straight hand trajectory in a potentially benign manner:pushing the hand of course in one direction before subsequently restoring towards the target. In this particular task, an explicit strategy to reduce motor effort requires a distinct deviation from the nominal rectilinear hand trajectory. Rather, our results display a clear directional preference during learning, as subjects adapted perturbed curved trajectories towards their initial baselines. We model this behavior using the framework of stochastic optimal control theory and an objective function that trades-of the discordant requirements of 1) target accuracy, 2) motor effort, and 3) desired trajectory. Our work addresses the underlying objective of a reaching movement, and we suggest that robustness, particularly against internal model uncertainly, is as essential to the reaching task as terminal accuracy and energy effciency.

am

PDF [BibTex]

am Mistry, M., Theodorou, E., Schaal, S., Kawato, M. Optimal control of reaching includes kinematic constraints Journal of Neurophysiology, 2013, clmc (article)

PDF [BibTex]

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Fusing visual and tactile sensing for 3-D object reconstruction while grasping

Ilonen, J., Bohg, J., Kyrki, V.

In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pages: 3547-3554, 2013 (inproceedings)

Abstract
In this work, we propose to reconstruct a complete 3-D model of an unknown object by fusion of visual and tactile information while the object is grasped. Assuming the object is symmetric, a first hypothesis of its complete 3-D shape is generated from a single view. This initial model is used to plan a grasp on the object which is then executed with a robotic manipulator equipped with tactile sensors. Given the detected contacts between the fingers and the object, the full object model including the symmetry parameters can be refined. This refined model will then allow the planning of more complex manipulation tasks. The main contribution of this work is an optimal estimation approach for the fusion of visual and tactile data applying the constraint of object symmetry. The fusion is formulated as a state estimation problem and solved with an iterative extended Kalman filter. The approach is validated experimentally using both artificial and real data from two different robotic platforms.

am

DOI Project Page [BibTex]

am Ilonen, J., Bohg, J., Kyrki, V. Fusing visual and tactile sensing for 3-D object reconstruction while grasping In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pages: 3547-3554, 2013 (inproceedings)

DOI Project Page [BibTex]

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Dynamical Movement Primitives: Learning Attractor Models for Motor Behaviors

Ijspeert, A., Nakanishi, J., Pastor, P., Hoffmann, H., Schaal, S.

Neural Computation, (25):328-373, 2013, clmc (article)

Abstract
Nonlinear dynamical systems have been used in many disciplines to model complex behaviors, including biological motor control, robotics, perception, economics, traffic prediction, and neuroscience. While often the unexpected emergent behavior of nonlinear systems is the focus of investigations, it is of equal importance to create goal-directed behavior (e.g., stable locomotion from a system of coupled oscillators under perceptual guidance). Modeling goal-directed behavior with nonlinear systems is, however, rather difficult due to the parameter sensitivity of these systems, their complex phase transitions in response to subtle parameter changes, and the difficulty of analyzing and predicting their long-term behavior; intuition and time-consuming parameter tuning play a major role. This letter presents and reviews dynamical movement primitives, a line of research for modeling attractor behaviors of autonomous nonlinear dynamical systems with the help of statistical learning techniques. The essence of our approach is to start with a simple dynamical system, such as a set of linear differential equations, and transform those into a weakly nonlinear system with prescribed attractor dynamics by meansof a learnable autonomous forcing term. Both point attractors and limit cycle attractors of almost arbitrary complexity can be generated. We explain the design principle of our approach and evaluate its properties in several example applications in motor control and robotics.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Ijspeert, A., Nakanishi, J., Pastor, P., Hoffmann, H., Schaal, S. Dynamical Movement Primitives: Learning Attractor Models for Motor Behaviors Neural Computation, (25):328-373, 2013, clmc (article)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Angular Motion Control Using a Closed-Loop CPG for a Water-Running Robot

Thatte, N., Khoramshahi, M., Ijspeert, A., Sitti, M.

In Dynamic Walking 2013, (EPFL-CONF-199763), 2013 (inproceedings)

pi

[BibTex]

pi Thatte, N., Khoramshahi, M., Ijspeert, A., Sitti, M. Angular Motion Control Using a Closed-Loop CPG for a Water-Running Robot In Dynamic Walking 2013, (EPFL-CONF-199763), 2013 (inproceedings)

[BibTex]

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Two-dimensional magnetic micro-module reconfigurations based on inter-modular interactions

Miyashita, S., Diller, E., Sitti, M.

The International Journal of Robotics Research, 32(5):591-613, SAGE Publications Sage UK: London, England, 2013 (article)

pi

[BibTex]

pi Miyashita, S., Diller, E., Sitti, M. Two-dimensional magnetic micro-module reconfigurations based on inter-modular interactions The International Journal of Robotics Research, 32(5):591-613, SAGE Publications Sage UK: London, England, 2013 (article)

[BibTex]

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Contact compliance effects in the frictional response of bioinspired fibrillar adhesives

Piccardo, M., Chateauminois, A., Fretigny, C., Pugno, N. M., Sitti, M.

Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 10(83):20130182, The Royal Society, 2013 (article)

pi

Project Page [BibTex]

pi Piccardo, M., Chateauminois, A., Fretigny, C., Pugno, N. M., Sitti, M. Contact compliance effects in the frictional response of bioinspired fibrillar adhesives Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 10(83):20130182, The Royal Society, 2013 (article)

Project Page [BibTex]

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Co-chairs

VINCENT, Julian, ZHU, Di, DAI, Zhendong, CHEN, Da, JIANG, Lei, KANG, Le, REN, Luquan, XUE, Qunji, Zhao, Chunsheng, BARNES, Jon, others

2013 (article)

pi

[BibTex]

pi VINCENT, Julian, ZHU, Di, DAI, Zhendong, CHEN, Da, JIANG, Lei, KANG, Le, REN, Luquan, XUE, Qunji, Zhao, Chunsheng, BARNES, Jon, others Co-chairs 2013 (article)

[BibTex]

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Learning Objective Functions for Manipulation

Kalakrishnan, M., Pastor, P., Righetti, L., Schaal, S.

In 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, IEEE, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2013 (inproceedings)

Abstract
We present an approach to learning objective functions for robotic manipulation based on inverse reinforcement learning. Our path integral inverse reinforcement learning algorithm can deal with high-dimensional continuous state-action spaces, and only requires local optimality of demonstrated trajectories. We use L 1 regularization in order to achieve feature selection, and propose an efficient algorithm to minimize the resulting convex objective function. We demonstrate our approach by applying it to two core problems in robotic manipulation. First, we learn a cost function for redundancy resolution in inverse kinematics. Second, we use our method to learn a cost function over trajectories, which is then used in optimization-based motion planning for grasping and manipulation tasks. Experimental results show that our method outperforms previous algorithms in high-dimensional settings.

am mg

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

am mg Kalakrishnan, M., Pastor, P., Righetti, L., Schaal, S. Learning Objective Functions for Manipulation In 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, IEEE, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2013 (inproceedings)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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Topological Control of Cell Sheet Migration by the 3D Microenvironment

Song, J., Kim, Y. T., Hazar, M., LeDuc, P. R., Davidson, L. A., Sitti, M.

Biophysical Journal, 104(2):147a, Elsevier, 2013 (article)

pi

[BibTex]

pi Song, J., Kim, Y. T., Hazar, M., LeDuc, P. R., Davidson, L. A., Sitti, M. Topological Control of Cell Sheet Migration by the 3D Microenvironment Biophysical Journal, 104(2):147a, Elsevier, 2013 (article)

[BibTex]

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Independent control of multiple magnetic microrobots in three dimensions

Diller, E., Giltinan, J., Sitti, M.

The International Journal of Robotics Research, 32(5):614-631, SAGE Publications Sage UK: London, England, 2013 (article)

pi

[BibTex]

pi Diller, E., Giltinan, J., Sitti, M. Independent control of multiple magnetic microrobots in three dimensions The International Journal of Robotics Research, 32(5):614-631, SAGE Publications Sage UK: London, England, 2013 (article)

[BibTex]

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A hybrid topological and structural optimization method to design a 3-DOF planar motion compliant mechanism

Lum, G. Z., Teo, T. J., Yang, G., Yeo, S. H., Sitti, M.

In Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM), 2013 IEEE/ASME International Conference on, pages: 247-254, 2013 (inproceedings)

pi

[BibTex]

pi Lum, G. Z., Teo, T. J., Yang, G., Yeo, S. H., Sitti, M. A hybrid topological and structural optimization method to design a 3-DOF planar motion compliant mechanism In Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM), 2013 IEEE/ASME International Conference on, pages: 247-254, 2013 (inproceedings)

[BibTex]

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Modular micro-robotic assembly through magnetic actuation and thermal bonding

Diller, E., Zhang, N., Sitti, M.

Journal of Micro-Bio Robotics, 8(3-4):121-131, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013 (article)

pi

[BibTex]

pi Diller, E., Zhang, N., Sitti, M. Modular micro-robotic assembly through magnetic actuation and thermal bonding Journal of Micro-Bio Robotics, 8(3-4):121-131, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013 (article)

[BibTex]

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Light-induced microbubble poration of localized cells

Fan, Qihui, Hu, Wenqi, Ohta, Aaron T

In Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2013 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE, pages: 4482-4485, 2013 (inproceedings)

pi

[BibTex]

pi Fan, Qihui, Hu, Wenqi, Ohta, Aaron T Light-induced microbubble poration of localized cells In Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2013 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE, pages: 4482-4485, 2013 (inproceedings)

[BibTex]

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A simulation and design tool for a passive rotation flapping wing mechanism

Arabagi, V., Hines, L., Sitti, M.

IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 18(2):787-798, 2013 (article)

pi

Project Page [BibTex]

pi Arabagi, V., Hines, L., Sitti, M. A simulation and design tool for a passive rotation flapping wing mechanism IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 18(2):787-798, 2013 (article)

Project Page [BibTex]

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GECKO-INSPIRED POLYMER ADHESIVES

Menguc, Yigit, Metin, Metin

Polymer Adhesion, Friction, and Lubrication, pages: 351, Wiley, 2013 (article)

pi

[BibTex]

pi Menguc, Yigit, Metin, Metin GECKO-INSPIRED POLYMER ADHESIVES Polymer Adhesion, Friction, and Lubrication, pages: 351, Wiley, 2013 (article)

[BibTex]

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Near and far-wall effects on the three-dimensional motion of bacteria-driven microbeads

Edwards, M. R., Wright Carlsen, R., Sitti, M.

Applied Physics Letters, 102(14):143701, AIP, 2013 (article)

pi

Project Page [BibTex]

pi Edwards, M. R., Wright Carlsen, R., Sitti, M. Near and far-wall effects on the three-dimensional motion of bacteria-driven microbeads Applied Physics Letters, 102(14):143701, AIP, 2013 (article)

Project Page [BibTex]

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SoftCubes: towards a soft modular matter

Yim, S., Sitti, M.

In Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2013 IEEE International Conference on, pages: 530-536, 2013 (inproceedings)

pi

Project Page [BibTex]

pi Yim, S., Sitti, M. SoftCubes: towards a soft modular matter In Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2013 IEEE International Conference on, pages: 530-536, 2013 (inproceedings)

Project Page [BibTex]

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Magnetically Actuated Soft Capsule With the Multimodal Drug Release Function

Yim, S., Goyal, K., Sitti, M.

IEEE/ASME Trans. on Mechatronics, 18(4):1413-1418, IEEE, 2013 (article)

pi

Project Page [BibTex]

pi Yim, S., Goyal, K., Sitti, M. Magnetically Actuated Soft Capsule With the Multimodal Drug Release Function IEEE/ASME Trans. on Mechatronics, 18(4):1413-1418, IEEE, 2013 (article)

Project Page [BibTex]

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Optimal distribution of contact forces with inverse-dynamics control

Righetti, L., Buchli, J., Mistry, M., Kalakrishnan, M., Schaal, S.

The International Journal of Robotics Research, 32(3):280-298, March 2013 (article)

Abstract
The development of legged robots for complex environments requires controllers that guarantee both high tracking performance and compliance with the environment. More specifically the control of the contact interaction with the environment is of crucial importance to ensure stable, robust and safe motions. In this contribution we develop an inverse-dynamics controller for floating-base robots under contact constraints that can minimize any combination of linear and quadratic costs in the contact constraints and the commands. Our main result is the exact analytical derivation of the controller. Such a result is particularly relevant for legged robots as it allows us to use torque redundancy to directly optimize contact interactions. For example, given a desired locomotion behavior, we can guarantee the minimization of contact forces to reduce slipping on difficult terrains while ensuring high tracking performance of the desired motion. The main advantages of the controller are its simplicity, computational efficiency and robustness to model inaccuracies. We present detailed experimental results on simulated humanoid and quadruped robots as well as a real quadruped robot. The experiments demonstrate that the controller can greatly improve the robustness of locomotion of the robots.1

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link (url) DOI [BibTex]

am mg Righetti, L., Buchli, J., Mistry, M., Kalakrishnan, M., Schaal, S. Optimal distribution of contact forces with inverse-dynamics control The International Journal of Robotics Research, 32(3):280-298, March 2013 (article)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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Tank-like module-based climbing robot using passive compliant joints

Seo, T., Sitti, M.

IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 18(1):397-408, 2013 (article)

pi

[BibTex]

pi Seo, T., Sitti, M. Tank-like module-based climbing robot using passive compliant joints IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 18(1):397-408, 2013 (article)

[BibTex]

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Flapping wings via direct-driving by DC motors

Azhar, M., Campolo, D., Lau, G., Hines, L., Sitti, M.

In Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2013 IEEE International Conference on, pages: 1397-1402, 2013 (inproceedings)

pi

[BibTex]

pi Azhar, M., Campolo, D., Lau, G., Hines, L., Sitti, M. Flapping wings via direct-driving by DC motors In Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2013 IEEE International Conference on, pages: 1397-1402, 2013 (inproceedings)

[BibTex]

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Three dimensional independent control of multiple magnetic microrobots

Diller, E., Giltinan, J., Jena, P., Sitti, M.

In Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2013 IEEE International Conference on, pages: 2576-2581, 2013 (inproceedings)

pi

[BibTex]

pi Diller, E., Giltinan, J., Jena, P., Sitti, M. Three dimensional independent control of multiple magnetic microrobots In Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2013 IEEE International Conference on, pages: 2576-2581, 2013 (inproceedings)

[BibTex]

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Enhanced fabrication and characterization of gecko-inspired mushroom-tipped microfiber adhesives

Song, J., Mengüç, Y., Sitti, M.

Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology, 27(17):1921-1932, Routledge, 2013 (article)

pi

Project Page [BibTex]

pi Song, J., Mengüç, Y., Sitti, M. Enhanced fabrication and characterization of gecko-inspired mushroom-tipped microfiber adhesives Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology, 27(17):1921-1932, Routledge, 2013 (article)

Project Page [BibTex]

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A Perching Mechanism for Flying Robots Using a Fibre-Based Adhesive

Daler, L., Klaptocz, A., Briod, A., Sitti, M., Floreano, D.

In Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2013 IEEE International Conference on, 2013 (inproceedings)

pi

[BibTex]

pi Daler, L., Klaptocz, A., Briod, A., Sitti, M., Floreano, D. A Perching Mechanism for Flying Robots Using a Fibre-Based Adhesive In Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2013 IEEE International Conference on, 2013 (inproceedings)

[BibTex]

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Micro-scale mobile robotics

Diller, E., Sitti, M.

Foundations and Trends in Robotics, 2(3):143-259, Now Publishers Incorporated, 2013 (article)

pi

[BibTex]

pi Diller, E., Sitti, M. Micro-scale mobile robotics Foundations and Trends in Robotics, 2(3):143-259, Now Publishers Incorporated, 2013 (article)

[BibTex]

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Survey and Introduction to the Focused Section on Bio-Inspired Mechatronics

Sitti, M., Menciassi, A., Ijspeert, A., Low, K. H., Kim, S.

Mechatronics, IEEE/ASME Transactions on, 18(2):409-418, DOI: 10.1109/TMECH.2012. 2233492, 2013 (article)

pi

[BibTex]

pi Sitti, M., Menciassi, A., Ijspeert, A., Low, K. H., Kim, S. Survey and Introduction to the Focused Section on Bio-Inspired Mechatronics Mechatronics, IEEE/ASME Transactions on, 18(2):409-418, DOI: 10.1109/TMECH.2012. 2233492, 2013 (article)

[BibTex]

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Bonding methods for modular micro-robotic assemblies

Diller, E., Zhang, N., Sitti, M.

In Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2013 IEEE International Conference on, pages: 2588-2593, 2013 (inproceedings)

pi

[BibTex]

pi Diller, E., Zhang, N., Sitti, M. Bonding methods for modular micro-robotic assemblies In Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2013 IEEE International Conference on, pages: 2588-2593, 2013 (inproceedings)

[BibTex]

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Learning Task Error Models for Manipulation

Pastor, P., Kalakrishnan, M., Binney, J., Kelly, J., Righetti, L., Sukhatme, G. S., Schaal, S.

In 2013 IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation, IEEE, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2013 (inproceedings)

Abstract
Precise kinematic forward models are important for robots to successfully perform dexterous grasping and manipulation tasks, especially when visual servoing is rendered infeasible due to occlusions. A lot of research has been conducted to estimate geometric and non-geometric parameters of kinematic chains to minimize reconstruction errors. However, kinematic chains can include non-linearities, e.g. due to cable stretch and motor-side encoders, that result in significantly different errors for different parts of the state space. Previous work either does not consider such non-linearities or proposes to estimate non-geometric parameters of carefully engineered models that are robot specific. We propose a data-driven approach that learns task error models that account for such unmodeled non-linearities. We argue that in the context of grasping and manipulation, it is sufficient to achieve high accuracy in the task relevant state space. We identify this relevant state space using previously executed joint configurations and learn error corrections for those. Therefore, our system is developed to generate subsequent executions that are similar to previous ones. The experiments show that our method successfully captures the non-linearities in the head kinematic chain (due to a counterbalancing spring) and the arm kinematic chains (due to cable stretch) of the considered experimental platform, see Fig. 1. The feasibility of the presented error learning approach has also been evaluated in independent DARPA ARM-S testing contributing to successfully complete 67 out of 72 grasping and manipulation tasks.

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link (url) DOI [BibTex]

am mg Pastor, P., Kalakrishnan, M., Binney, J., Kelly, J., Righetti, L., Sukhatme, G. S., Schaal, S. Learning Task Error Models for Manipulation In 2013 IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation, IEEE, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2013 (inproceedings)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

2007

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Towards Machine Learning of Motor Skills

Peters, J., Schaal, S., Schölkopf, B.

In Proceedings of Autonome Mobile Systeme (AMS), pages: 138-144, (Editors: K Berns and T Luksch), 2007, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Autonomous robots that can adapt to novel situations has been a long standing vision of robotics, artificial intelligence, and cognitive sciences. Early approaches to this goal during the heydays of artificial intelligence research in the late 1980s, however, made it clear that an approach purely based on reasoning or human insights would not be able to model all the perceptuomotor tasks that a robot should fulfill. Instead, new hope was put in the growing wake of machine learning that promised fully adaptive control algorithms which learn both by observation and trial-and-error. However, to date, learning techniques have yet to fulfill this promise as only few methods manage to scale into the high-dimensional domains of manipulator robotics, or even the new upcoming trend of humanoid robotics, and usually scaling was only achieved in precisely pre-structured domains. In this paper, we investigate the ingredients for a general approach to motor skill learning in order to get one step closer towards human-like performance. For doing so, we study two ma jor components for such an approach, i.e., firstly, a theoretically well-founded general approach to representing the required control structures for task representation and execution and, secondly, appropriate learning algorithms which can be applied in this setting.

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PDF DOI [BibTex]

2007

am ei Peters, J., Schaal, S., Schölkopf, B. Towards Machine Learning of Motor Skills In Proceedings of Autonome Mobile Systeme (AMS), pages: 138-144, (Editors: K Berns and T Luksch), 2007, clmc (inproceedings)

PDF DOI [BibTex]

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Reinforcement Learning for Optimal Control of Arm Movements

Theodorou, E., Peters, J., Schaal, S.

In Abstracts of the 37st Meeting of the Society of Neuroscience., Neuroscience, 2007, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Every day motor behavior consists of a plethora of challenging motor skills from discrete movements such as reaching and throwing to rhythmic movements such as walking, drumming and running. How this plethora of motor skills can be learned remains an open question. In particular, is there any unifying computa-tional framework that could model the learning process of this variety of motor behaviors and at the same time be biologically plausible? In this work we aim to give an answer to these questions by providing a computational framework that unifies the learning mechanism of both rhythmic and discrete movements under optimization criteria, i.e., in a non-supervised trial-and-error fashion. Our suggested framework is based on Reinforcement Learning, which is mostly considered as too costly to be a plausible mechanism for learning com-plex limb movement. However, recent work on reinforcement learning with pol-icy gradients combined with parameterized movement primitives allows novel and more efficient algorithms. By using the representational power of such mo-tor primitives we show how rhythmic motor behaviors such as walking, squash-ing and drumming as well as discrete behaviors like reaching and grasping can be learned with biologically plausible algorithms. Using extensive simulations and by using different reward functions we provide results that support the hy-pothesis that Reinforcement Learning could be a viable candidate for motor learning of human motor behavior when other learning methods like supervised learning are not feasible.

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[BibTex]

am ei Theodorou, E., Peters, J., Schaal, S. Reinforcement Learning for Optimal Control of Arm Movements In Abstracts of the 37st Meeting of the Society of Neuroscience., Neuroscience, 2007, clmc (inproceedings)

[BibTex]