This paper proposes a novel decision-making framework for planning "when" and "where" to deploy robots based on prior data with the goal of persistently monitoring a spatio-temporal phenomenon in a...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9798350384581;9798350384574
This paper proposes a novel decision-making framework for planning "when" and "where" to deploy robots based on prior data with the goal of persistently monitoring a spatio-temporal phenomenon in an environment. We specifically focus on large lake monitoring, where remote sensors, such as satellites, can provide a snapshot of the target phenomenon at regular cycles. Between these cycles, Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASVs) can be deployed to maintain an up-to-date model of the phenomenon. However, deploying ASVs has a significant logistical overhead in terms of time and cost. It requires a team of people to go on site and spend typically a day to monitor the deployment. It is vital to not only be intentional about where to sample in the environment on a given day, but also determine the worth of deploying the ASVs that day at all. Therefore, we propose a persistent monitoring strategy that provides the days and locations of when and where to sample with the robots by leveraging Gaussian Process model estimates of future trends based on collected remote sensing and point measurement data. Our approach minimizes the number of days and locations for sampling, while preserving the quality of estimates. Through simulation experiments using realistic spatio-temporal datasets, we demonstrate the benefits of our approach over traditional deployment strategies, including significant savings on the effort and operational cost of deploying the ASVs.
The implementation of a flexible and intuitive programming system is a basic requirement for the efficient usage of robotic applications in real industrial environments. This paper focuses on the development and imple...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781665490511
The implementation of a flexible and intuitive programming system is a basic requirement for the efficient usage of robotic applications in real industrial environments. This paper focuses on the development and implementation of a programming system that enables an industrial worker to program the robot without writing a single line of code. Therefore, the worker can compound the robot program by choosing different movement sequences out of a list of operations. By using the ISA88 standard of the process industry, the considered application can be subdivided into smaller units that only have to be parameterized. Thus, the worker only has to be aware of the industrial workplace itself, but not of writing robot source code. Furthermore, we implemented a human-machine interface (HMI) on an industrial computer that is connected to the robot controller via TCP/IP. The evaluation shows that our programming system is characterized by a great versatility for robotic applications in real industrial environments.
Recently, soft robotic procedures are being developed aiming at achieving targeted minimally invasive operations or drug administration in specific locations in the human body. Accordingly, specialized path-planning a...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9798350386523;9798350386530
Recently, soft robotic procedures are being developed aiming at achieving targeted minimally invasive operations or drug administration in specific locations in the human body. Accordingly, specialized path-planning algorithms need to be investigated for the estimation of efficient paths that would protect the delicate tissue structures and simultaneously satisfy a set of requirements for the efficient navigation of the robot. In this context, we propose an image-based 3D path-planning algorithm, which is an extension of the A* algorithm, for the navigation of a soft-growing robot inside the spinal subarachnoid space (SSS). The proposed algorithm is capable of estimating a safe pathway towards the goal location, while ensuring the establishment of anchor points that facilitate the efficient steering of the soft robot. The algorithm is evaluated using a highly detailed model of the SSS with respect to its capacity to satisfy the robot movement requirements and path efficiency.
Real-time path planning in outdoor environments still challenges modern robotic systems due to differences in terrain traversability, diverse obstacles, and the necessity for fast decision-making. Established approach...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9798350384581;9798350384574
Real-time path planning in outdoor environments still challenges modern robotic systems due to differences in terrain traversability, diverse obstacles, and the necessity for fast decision-making. Established approaches have primarily focused on geometric navigation solutions, which work well for structured geometric obstacles but have limitations regarding the semantic interpretation of different terrain types and their affordances. Moreover, these methods fail to identify traversable geometric occurrences, such as stairs. To overcome these issues, we introduce ViPlanner, a learned local path planning approach that generates local plans based on geometric and semantic information. The system is trained using the Imperative Learning paradigm, for which the network weights are optimized end-to-end based on the planning task objective. This optimization uses a differentiable formulation of a semantic costmap, which enables the planner to distinguish between the traversability of different terrains and accurately identify obstacles. The semantic information is represented in 30 classes using an RGB colorspace that can effectively encode the multiple levels of traversability. We show that the planner can adapt to diverse real-world environments without requiring any real-world training. In fact, the planner is trained purely in simulation, enabling a highly scalable training data generation. Experimental results demonstrate resistance to noise, zero-shot sim-to-real transfer, and a decrease of 38.02% in terms of traversability cost compared to purely geometric-based approaches. Code and models are made publicly available: https://***/leggedrobotics/viplanner.
uReal-world robot task planning is intractable in part due to partial observability. A common approach to reducing complexity is introducing additional structure into the decision process, such as mixed-observability,...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9798350384581;9798350384574
uReal-world robot task planning is intractable in part due to partial observability. A common approach to reducing complexity is introducing additional structure into the decision process, such as mixed-observability, factored states, or temporally-extended actions. We propose the locally observable Markov decision process, a novel formulation that models task-level planning where uncertainty pertains to object-level attributes and where a robot has subroutines for seeking and accurately observing objects. This models sensors that are range-limited and line-of-sight-objects occluded or outside sensor range are unobserved, but the attributes of objects that fall within sensor view can be resolved via repeated observation. Our model results in a three-stage planning process: first, the robot plans using only observed objects;if that fails, it generates a target object that, if observed, could result in a feasible plan;finally, it attempts to locate and observe the target, replanning after each newly observed object. By combining LOMDPs with off-the-shelf Markov planners, we outperform state-of-the-art-solvers for both object-oriented POMDP and MDP analogues with the same task specification. We then apply the formulation to successfully solve a task on a mobile robot.
In this paper, we propose a real-time clothoid tree-based path planning for self-driving robots. Clothoids, curves that exhibit linear curvature profiles, play an important role in road design and path planning due to...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9798350384581;9798350384574
In this paper, we propose a real-time clothoid tree-based path planning for self-driving robots. Clothoids, curves that exhibit linear curvature profiles, play an important role in road design and path planning due to their appealing properties. Nevertheless, their real-time applications face considerable challenges, primarily stemming from the lack of a closed-form clothoid expression. To address these challenges, we introduce two innovative techniques: 1) an efficient and precise clothoid approximation using the Gauss-Legendre quadrature;and 2) a data-efficient decoder for interpolating clothoid splines that leverages the symmetry and similarity of clothoids. These techniques are demonstrated with numerical examples. The clothoid approximation ensures an accurate and smooth representation of the curve, and the clothoid spline decoder effectively accelerates the clothoid tree exploration by relaxing the problem constraints and reducing the problem size. Both techniques are integrated into our path planning algorithm and evaluated in various driving scenarios.
To substantially enhance robot intelligence, there is a pressing need to develop a large model that enables general-purpose robots to proficiently undertake a broad spectrum of manipulation tasks, akin to the versatil...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9798350377712;9798350377705
To substantially enhance robot intelligence, there is a pressing need to develop a large model that enables general-purpose robots to proficiently undertake a broad spectrum of manipulation tasks, akin to the versatile task-planning ability exhibited by LLMs. The vast diversity in objects, robots, and manipulation tasks presents huge challenges. Our work introduces a comprehensive framework to develop a foundation model for general robotic manipulation that formalizes a manipulation task as contact synthesis. Specifically, our model takes as input object and robot manipulator point clouds, object physical attributes, target motions, and manipulation region masks. It outputs contact points on the object and associated contact forces or post-contact motions for robots to achieve the desired manipulation task. We perform extensive experiments both in the simulation and real-world settings, manipulating articulated rigid objects, rigid objects, and deformable objects that vary in dimensionality, ranging from one-dimensional objects like ropes to two-dimensional objects like cloth and extending to three-dimensional objects such as plasticine. Our model achieves average success rates of around 90%. Supplementary materials and videos are available on our project website at https://***/.
Despite recent advancements in torque-controlled tactile robots, integrating them into manufacturing settings remains challenging, particularly in complex environments. Simplifying robotic skill programming for non-ex...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9798350377712;9798350377705
Despite recent advancements in torque-controlled tactile robots, integrating them into manufacturing settings remains challenging, particularly in complex environments. Simplifying robotic skill programming for non-experts is crucial for increasing robot deployment in manufacturing. This work proposes an innovative approach, Vision-Augmented Unified Force-Impedance Control (VA-UFIC), aimed at intuitive visuo-tactile exploration of unknown 3D curvatures. VA-UFIC stands out by seamlessly integrating vision and tactile data, enabling the exploration of diverse contact shapes in three dimensions, including point contacts, flat contacts with concave and convex curvatures, and scenarios involving contact loss. A pivotal component of our method is a robust online contact alignment monitoring system that considers tactile error, local surface curvature, and orientation, facilitating adaptive adjustments of robot stiffness and force regulation during exploration. We introduce virtual energy tanks within the control framework to ensure safety and stability, effectively addressing inherent safety concerns in visuo-tactile exploration. Evaluation using a Franka Emika research robot demonstrates the efficacy of VA-UFIC in exploring unknown 3D curvatures while adhering to arbitrarily defined force-motion policies. By seamlessly integrating vision and tactile sensing, VA-UFIC offers a promising avenue for intuitive exploration of complex environments, with potential applications spanning manufacturing, inspection, and beyond.
Construction projects are exposed to high levels of logistical uncertainty like material shortages, power outages, and unpredictable weather events. Proactive planning around these uncertainties is complicated by the ...
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ISBN:
(数字)9780784485286
ISBN:
(纸本)9780784485286
Construction projects are exposed to high levels of logistical uncertainty like material shortages, power outages, and unpredictable weather events. Proactive planning around these uncertainties is complicated by the many resource interactions and interdependencies needed for the completion of most construction tasks. Exposure to uncertainty and a high sensitivity to that uncertainty makes project schedules more vulnerable to delay. The application of human-robot collaboration (HRC) in construction tasks has the potential to reduce uncertainty related to labor but may increase vulnerability in other unexpected ways. This paper explores how HRC in a subset of construction tasks, specifically in drywall finishing, affects project vulnerability to simulated disruptions. Data from jobsite observations and worker interviews are used to develop a meta-network model of the drywall finishing process, which is integrated a semi-automated robot named "Canvas" in an HRC application. The results identify the circumstances under which HRC in drywall finishing makes the project more or less vulnerable to uncertainty. The findings of the research will aid project managers by enabling more resilient planning of HRC applications and provide guidance to robotic manufacturers improving the integration of their systems on construction projects.
This paper considers a last-mile delivery problem in which autonomous robots are employed for transporting parcels in a pedestrian area. The deliveries to the different buildings are organized through a common collect...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9798350358513;9798350358520
This paper considers a last-mile delivery problem in which autonomous robots are employed for transporting parcels in a pedestrian area. The deliveries to the different buildings are organized through a common collection point, in which couriers unload the parcels and from which a set of autonomous robots move to deliver them to the final customers. The common collection point is located in a building provided with renewable sources and a battery storage and controlled with an energy management system. The proposed planning algorithm acts according to a discrete-time logic, in which the dispatching and charging operations of the robots are planned at each time step. The main objectives are the full exploitation of the robot capacity, the reduction of the delivery delay, the minimization of the travel costs and the smart energy exploitation. This algorithm is tested on a real case study in the Savona Campus of the University of Genova.
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