Publication

Large language models (LLMs) can provide rich physical descriptions of most worldly objects, allowing robots to achieve more informed and capable grasping. We leverage LLMs’ common sense physical reasoning and code-writing abilities to infer an object’s physical characteristics—mass, friction coefficient, and spring constant —from a semantic description, and then translate...

Shape displays that actively manipulate surface geometry are an expanding robotics domain with applications to haptics, manufacturing, aerodynamics, and more. However, existing displays often lack high-fidelity shape morphing, high-speed deformation, and embedded state sensing, limiting their potential uses. Here, we demonstrate a multifunctional soft-shape display driven by a 10 × 10 array...

We describe a force-controlled robotic gripper with built-in tactile and 3D perception. We also describe a complete autonomous manipulation pipeline consisting of object detection, segmentation, point cloud processing, force-controlled manipulation, and symbolic (re)-planning. The design emphasizes versatility in terms of applications, manufacturability, use of commercial off-the-shelf parts, and open-source software...

Peg-in-hole assembly of tightly fitting parts often requires multiple attempts. Parts need to be put together by performing a wiggling motion of undetermined length and can get stuck, requiring a restart. Recognizing unsuccessful insertion attempts early can help in reducing the makespan of the assembly. This can be achieved by...

Sensory feedback provided by prosthetic hands shows promise in increasing functional abilities and promoting embodiment of the prosthetic device. However, sensory feedback is limited based on where sensors are placed on the prosthetic device and has mainly focused on sensorizing the fingertips. Here we describe distributed tactile sensors for the...

Uncertainty in perception, actuation, and the environment often require multiple attempts for a robotic task to be successful. We study a class of problems providing (1) low-entropy indicators of terminal success / failure, and (2) unreliable (high-entropy) data to predict the final outcome of an ongoing task. Examples include a...

The need to create more viable soft sensors is increasing in tandem with the growing interest in soft robots. Several sensing methods, like capacitive stretch sensing and intrinsic capacitive self-sensing, have proven to be useful when controlling soft electro-hydraulic actuators, but are still problematic. This is due to challenges around...

Textbooks that provide a broad algorithmic perspective on the mechanics and dynamics of robots almost unfailingly serve students at the graduate level. Introduction to Autonomous Robots offers a much-needed resource for teaching third- and fourth-year undergraduates the computational fundamentals behind the design and control of autonomous robots. The authors use...

We present a novel augmented reality (AR) framework to show relevant information about swarm dynamics to a user in the absence of markers by using blinking frequency to distinguish between groups in the swarm. In order to distinguish between groups, clusters of the same group are identified by blinking at...

Locomotion through rolling is attractive compared to other forms of locomotion thanks to uniform designs, high degree of mobility, dynamic stability, and self-recovery from collision. Despite previous efforts to design rolling soft systems, pneumatic and other soft actuators are often limited in terms of high-speed dynamics, system integration, and/or functionalities...