Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Long Li, Zhongqu Xie, Xiang Luo, Juanjuan Li
Summary: This study introduces a linear pendulum model (LPM) for the double support phase (DSP) to address the walking stability issue caused by the neglect of DSP in the LIPM model. Additionally, various trajectory-planning methods for different scenarios are proposed to allow the biped robot to maintain stability while planning trajectories in real time.
Article
Robotics
Junwei Liu, Hua Chen, Patrick M. Wensing, Wei Zhang
Summary: This study explores balancing of legged robots by introducing the instantaneous capture input for the variable-height inverted pendulum model. The ICI can be computed as a function of the state, and when used as the control policy, it ensures that the system will eventually come to a stop.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
Zihan Xu, Qin Fang, Chengju Liu, Qijun Chen
Summary: A compliant-resistant balance-control method is proposed for biped robots to maintain balance under external forces, inspired by human behaviors. A model-free trajectory generator based on the central pattern generator (CPG) is designed to generate compliant-resistant human-like behavior. The control strategy can generate defined pulse signals to realize compliant-resistant balance control for biped robots. The proposed control strategy is verified in the NAO simulation environment.
Article
Robotics
Nelson Rosa, Kevin M. Lynch
Summary: This article introduces a topological method for generating families of walking gaits for underactuated biped walkers, utilizing implicitly defined feasible periodic gaits within a state-time-control space. Equilibria are used as reliable templates for constructing gait families on several 2-D and 3-D biped walkers.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Mechanical
Sunil Gora, Shakti S. Gupta, Ashish Dutta
Summary: In this work, the motion of a nonlinear inverted pendulum (NIP) on deformable terrain due to foot contact forces is analyzed for energy and footstep placement. The mass moment of inertia and terrain deformation are taken into consideration in the model. The system's energy analysis provides foot placement regions and terrain stiffness limits for walking on uneven deformable terrain.
JOURNAL OF MECHANISMS AND ROBOTICS-TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASME
(2023)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Stana Zivanovic, Bintian Lin, Hiep Vu Dang, Sigong Zhang, Mladen Cosic, Colin Caprani, Qingwen Zhang
Summary: This paper critically evaluates the performance of two bipedal models with rigid legs in reproducing key features of an individual pedestrian's walking gait and representing a wide range of individuals. The results show that these models are less successful in reproducing genuine kinetic and kinematics profiles.
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Xiaokun Leng, Songhao Piao, Lin Chang, Zhicheng He, Zheng Zhu
Summary: This paper studies and explains the optimization design process of biped robot parameters and improves its motion capability by optimizing the driving parameters of the robot. By analyzing the contradiction between walking speed, stability, and driver performance of biped robots, the performance evaluation functions are established to achieve optimal parameter design.
JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT & FUZZY SYSTEMS
(2021)
Article
Mechanics
Ali Tehrani Safa, Ali Nouriani, Aria Alasty
Summary: This paper demonstrates that an IP-like model can simulate stable periodic handspring maneuvers with passive flight phases, controlled only by an unvaried torque input during the contact phase. The system's dynamics, studied and analyzed using the Poincare section method, reveal that the stable periodic solutions are sufficiently robust for a broad range of the parameter space.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NON-LINEAR MECHANICS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Giuseppe Menga
Summary: This study revisits the application of a spherical inverted pendulum to biped walking, providing an exact solution using symbolic computation. By utilizing Kane's approach to dynamical modeling and Autolev software environment, explicit formulas describing energies and angular momenta are generated for real-time implementation in controlling biped robots or lower limb exoskeletons.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2021)
Article
Robotics
Haitao Yu, Haibo Gao, Zongquan Deng
Summary: This article extends the traditional SLIP model from sagittal hopping into spatially running and proposes a novel perturbation-based approach to obtain an analytical approximate solution for the 3-D-SLIP model. The derived solution offers satisfactory prediction performance in a wide range of model parameter combinations, showcasing potential in motion planning and gait control for legged robots.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS
(2021)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Sicheng Xie, Xinyu Li, Liang Gao, Ling Fu, Li Jing, Weifeng Xu
Summary: This study proposes an online whole-stage gait planning method to enhance the bipedal walking performance. A new template model called Variable Spring-Loaded Inverted Pendulum with Finite-sized Foot (VSLIP-FF) model is applied, considering the role of ankles. A Finite State Machine (FSM)-based gait pattern with corresponding bio-inspired gait strategies is established. Furthermore, an online gait generator based on a neural network is applied for real-time gait planning. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Article
Biophysics
Samuel E. Masters, John H. Challis
Summary: The study found that an additional spring-mass-damper system can increase the self-stabilizing properties of the SLIP model and enhance its resistance to perturbations, thereby improving the stability of human running.
JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Ameer Tamoor Khan, Shuai Li, Xuefeng Zhou
Summary: This study proposed a framework for optimizing the trajectory of a 5-link Biped Robot using the BAS algorithm, which combines trajectory generation and robot control. The results showed that applying the BAS algorithm yielded convincing results in solving the non-linear systems.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS II-EXPRESS BRIEFS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Matteo Massaro, Stefano Lovato, David J. N. Limebeer
Summary: This paper discusses a classic control problem, the erection of the inverted pendulum, specifically the minimum-time erection on a moving cart. The study reveals that the minimum-time solution may involve a singular arc and proposes a corresponding feedback control law. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis of the solution structure is conducted by varying the model parameters, and the time-optimal solution is compared with an energy-based control strategy.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2022)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Balazs A. Kovacs, Tamas Insperger
Summary: This study analyzed the critical length for stabilizability in delayed PDA feedback and predictor feedback for the inverted pendulum paradigm. It was found that the relation between the critical length and reaction delay remained quadratic in the presence of perturbations on control gains. Predictor feedback outperformed PDA feedback in terms of critical length and was more sensitive to changes in feedback delay compared to parameter uncertainties.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ROBUST AND NONLINEAR CONTROL
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Joris De Winter, Jarl Beckers, Greet Van de Perre, Ilias El Makrini, Bram Vanderborght
Summary: The factory of the future is moving towards flexible assembly lines instead of conventional ones, and the Autonomous Constraint Generation method is a efficient way to generate flexible robot-centered assembly plans.
ROBOTICS AND COMPUTER-INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Ellen Roels, Seppe Terryn, Pasquale Ferrentino, Joost Brancart, Guy Van Assche, Bram Vanderborght
Summary: In the field of soft robotics, knowledge of material science is becoming increasingly important. This tutorial provides a complete process, from polymer synthesis to fabrication and testing, to aid researchers in understanding both domains. The use of self-healing polymers showcased in this tutorial demonstrates their accessibility and ability to significantly increase the lifespan of soft robots by enabling them to recover from fatal damage.
Article
Business
Laurens De Gauquier, Kim Willems, Hoang-Long Cao, Bram Vanderborght, Malaika Brengman
Summary: This study examined shopper behavior when interacting with an employee-robot team compared to interacting with either the employee or the robot alone, using the metrics of the point-of-sale (POS) conversion funnel. A field study utilizing video observations was conducted in four conditions: control (no stimulus), frontline employee, humanoid service robot, and employee-robot team. The findings suggest that the service robot was more effective in attracting attention and stopping passers-by, although it resulted in the lowest number of passers-by entering the store. The frontline employee initiated the least interactions but had the highest conversion rate of passersby into buyers. The employee-robot team successfully encouraged the most passers-by to look at the store but did not convert more of them into buyers compared to the robot alone.
JOURNAL OF RETAILING AND CONSUMER SERVICES
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Elke Lathouwers, Jean-Pierre Baeyens, Bruno Tassignon, Felipe Gomez, Pierre Cherelle, Romain Meeusen, Bram Vanderborght, Kevin De Pauw
Summary: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the mechanical ankle-foot prosthesis (Talaris Demonstrator) during level walking by mapping coordination patterns based on the sagittal continuous relative phase (CRP). The results suggest a potential advantage of the TD over the individual's current prosthesis.
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING ONLINE
(2023)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Dianbiao Dong, Chi Ma, Miao Wang, Huong Thi Vu, Bram Vanderborght, Yuanxi Sun
Summary: This paper proposes a recognition system framework based on multi-source information fusion for the recognition of human gait patterns and phases. The framework utilizes multi-channel low-cost sensors to obtain human motion information and processes the raw signals into a valid recognition vector. The experimental results show that the proposed framework achieves high recognition accuracy for gait phases and patterns, proving its effectiveness.
ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
(2023)
Article
Robotics
Julie Legrand, Seppe Terryn, Ellen Roels, Bram Vanderborght
Summary: This study proposes a method for making voxels using reversible Diels-Alder polymers to address the issue of failure at the interface of soft multi-material voxels. By utilizing these materials, strong chemical connections can be maintained while allowing for reconfiguration. This enables the voxels to be disassembled and reassembled in a sustainable and economical way, allowing for iterative validation and fine-tuning of simulated voxel-based robots.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Robotics
Gaoyuan Liu, Joris de Winter, Denis Steckelmacher, Roshan Kumar Hota, Ann Nowe, Bram Vanderborght
Summary: Robotic manipulation in cluttered environments requires synergistic planning among prehensile and non-prehensile actions. To extend the ability of sampling-based algorithms, a vision-based Reinforcement Learning (RL) non-prehensile procedure, called pusher, is integrated. Results show that the pusher can effectively improve the success ratio of the previous sampling-based algorithm, while the sampling-based algorithm can help the pusher learn pushing skills.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Mechanical
Christopher van Vlerken, Felipe Ballen-Moreno, Ellen Roels, Pasquale Ferrentino, Kevin Langlois, Bram Vanderborght, Tom Verstraten
Summary: Wearable robots are increasingly used in rehabilitation, power augmentation, and assistance. However, one of the challenges is how to attach them securely and comfortably to the human body without interfering with daily activities. This paper proposes a novel pneumatically actuated soft strap that automates part of the strapping process.
Article
Engineering, Industrial
Renee Govaerts, Sander De Bock, Lara Stas, Ilias El Makrini, Jelle Habay, Jeroen Van Cutsem, Bart Roelands, Bram Vanderborght, Romain Meeusen, Kevin De Pauw
Summary: This study investigated the impact of mental fatigue on work performance and movement duration. When mentally fatigued and using a lower back exoskeleton, movement duration significantly increased, suggesting a significant interaction between the exoskeleton and one's psychobiological state. These findings indicate a potential negative effect on production efficiency and call for further research into cognitive aspects of work performance and human-exoskeleton interaction.
APPLIED ERGONOMICS
(2023)
Review
Energy & Fuels
Tom Verstraten, Md Sazzad Hosen, Maitane Berecibar, Bram Vanderborght
Summary: Untethered robots rely on battery packs for power supply, and this paper proposes criteria to evaluate the suitability of different battery technologies for robotic applications. It evaluates and compares the capabilities of relevant battery technologies, discusses current limitations and new technological developments, and highlights opportunities for interdisciplinary research between battery technology and robotics.
Article
Robotics
Maxime Marchal, Raphal Furnemont, Bram Vanderborght, Ghiles Mostafaoui, Tom Verstraten
Summary: By introducing elastic elements such as Series Elastic Actuation (SEA), Parallel Elastic Actuation (PEA), and Biarticular Actuation (BA) into the structure of a robot, the electrical energy consumption can be reduced. This article presents an optimization study of the spring arrangement for a 3 degrees of freedom robotic arm, aiming to decrease the electrical energy consumption for a given pick-and-place task. Through simulations and experimental validation, it is shown that the optimal configuration consists of rigid actuation on joint 1 and PEAs on joints 2 and 3, resulting in significant reductions in root mean square (RMS) and peak load torques for joint 2 and joint 3 compared to the configuration without springs.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Zhanwei Wang, Seppe Terryn, Huijiang Wang, Julie Legrand, Ali Safaei, Joost Brancart, Guy Van Assche, Bram Vanderborght
Summary: In this article, a comprehensive approach to address the environmental impact of energy waste in vacuum grippers is presented. The approach involves the development of a self-closing, multi-material, and self-healing system based on reversible elastomers. The system effectively prevents energy waste, achieves versatility and stability, and enables self-repair within a short period of time.
ADVANCED INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Pasquale Ferrentino, Ellen Roels, Joost Brancart, Seppe Terryn, Guy Van Assche, Bram Vanderborght
Summary: This article presents a tutorial on how to build a soft-robot model using an open source finite element analysis (FEA) simulator called SOFA. The tutorial explains the basic working principles of SOFA and demonstrates its capability to generate a simulation scene from Python or XML code. It also highlights the importance of knowledge of constitutive material properties for good modeling of the mechanical system and the ability of SOFA to handle multidisciplinary subjects and teach simulation and programming language principles to engineering students.
IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Greet van de Perre, Thierry Hubert, Tom Verstraten, Bram Vanderborght
Summary: One of the main restrictions of commercial cobots is their limited payload to mass ratios. This paper investigates the potential benefits of using flexible links in collaborative robotics. The study explores the theoretical potential of flexible links to increase the payload to mass ratio and proposes a control strategy based on strain measurements to counteract the undesired side effects of flexible designs.
Article
Education, Scientific Disciplines
Fatma Demir, Ellen Roels, Seppe Terryn, Bram Vanderborght
Summary: This article presents an engineering outreach activity that aims to teach K-12 students how to develop a tendon-based soft robotic finger. The primary objectives of this activity are to introduce students to the fundamentals of soft robotics, its interdisciplinary nature, and to offer them a hands-on and engaging learning experience. Such activities help improve students' understanding of soft robotics principles, materials, and polymer processing.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION
(2023)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Runwei Guan, Shanliang Yao, Lulu Liu, Xiaohui Zhu, Ka Lok Man, Yong Yue, Jeremy Smith, Eng Gee, Yutao Yue
Summary: With the development of Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs), the perception of inland waterways has become significant. Traditional RGB cameras cannot work effectively in adverse weather and at night, which has led to the emergence of 4D millimeter-wave radar as a new perception sensor. However, the radar suffers from water-surface clutter and irregular shape of point cloud. To address these issues, this paper proposes a high-performance panoptic perception model called Mask-VRDet, which fuses features of vision and radar using graph neural network.
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
(2024)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Adrien Le Reun, Kevin Subrin, Anthony Dubois, Sebastien Garnier
Summary: This study aims to evaluate the quality and health of aerospace parts using a high-dimensional robotic cell. By utilizing X-ray Computed Tomography devices, the interior of the parts can be reconstructed and anomalies can be detected. A methodology is proposed to assess both the raw process capability and the improved process capability, with three strategies developed to improve the robot behavior model and calibration.
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
(2024)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Weiming Ba, Jung-Che Chang, Jing Liu, Xi Wang, Xin Dong, Dragos Axinte
Summary: This paper proposes a hybrid scheme for kinematic control of continuum robots, which avoids errors through tension supervision and accurate piecewise linear approximation. The effectiveness of the controller is verified on different continuum robotic systems.
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
(2024)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Gabriele Abbate, Alessandro Giusti, Viktor Schmuck, Oya Celiktutan, Antonio Paolillo
Summary: In this study, a learning-based approach is proposed to predict the probability of human users interacting with a robot before the interaction begins. By considering the pose and motion of the user, the approach labels the robot's encounters with humans in a self-supervised manner. The method is validated and deployed in various scenarios, achieving high accuracy in predicting user intentions to interact with the robot.
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
(2024)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Tiago Cortinhal, Eren Erdal Aksoy
Summary: This work presents a new depth-and semantics-aware conditional generative model, named TITAN-Next, for cross-domain image-to-image translation between LiDAR and camera sensors. The model is able to translate raw LiDAR point clouds to RGB-D camera images by solely relying on semantic scene segments, and it has practical applications in fields like autonomous vehicles.
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
(2024)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Marios Krestenitis, Emmanuel K. Raptis, Athanasios Ch. Kapoutsis, Konstantinos Ioannidis, Elias B. Kosmatopoulos, Stefanos Vrochidis
Summary: This paper addresses the issue of informative path planning for a UAV used in precision agriculture. By using a non-uniform scanning approach, the time spent in areas with minimal value is reduced, while maintaining high precision in information-dense regions. A novel active sensing and deep learning-based coverage path planning approach is proposed, which adjusts the UAV's speed based on the quantity and confidence level of identified plant classes.
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
(2024)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Shota Kokubu, Pablo E. Tortos Vinocour, Wenwei Yu
Summary: In this study, a new modular soft actuator was proposed to improve the support performance of soft rehabilitation gloves (SRGs). Objective evaluations and clinical tests were conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness and functionality of the proposed actuator and SRG.
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
(2024)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Jinliang Zhu, Yuanxi Sun, Jie Xiong, Yiyang Liu, Jia Zheng, Long Bai
Summary: This paper proposes an active prosthetic knee joint with a variable stiffness parallel elastic actuation mechanism. Numerical verifications and practical experiments demonstrate that the mechanism can reduce torque and power, thus reducing energy consumption and improving the endurance of the prosthetic knee joint.
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
(2024)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Yong You, Jingtao Wu, Yunlong Meng, Dongye Sun, Datong Qin
Summary: A new power-cycling variable transmission (PCVT) is proposed and applied to construction vehicles to improve transmission efficiency. A shift correction strategy is developed based on identifying the changes in construction vehicles' mass and gradient. Simulation results show that the proposed method can correct shift points, improve operation efficiency, and ensure a safer operation process.
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
(2024)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Shaorui Liu, Wei Tian, Jianxin Shen, Bo Li, Pengcheng Li
Summary: This paper proposes a two-objective optimization technique for multi-robot systems, addressing the issue of balancing productivity and machining performance in high-quality machining tasks.
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
(2024)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Pengchao Ding, Faben Zhu, Hongbiao Zhu, Gongcheng Wang, Hua Bai, Han Wang, Dongmei Wu, Zhijiang Du, Weidong Wang
Summary: We propose an autonomous approaching scheme for mobile robot traversing obstacle stairwells, which overcomes the restricted field of vision caused by obstacles. The scheme includes stair localization, structural parameter estimation, and optimization of the approaching process.
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
(2024)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Pedro Azevedo, Vitor Santos
Summary: Accurate detection and tracking of vulnerable road users and traffic objects are vital tasks for autonomous driving and driving assistance systems. This paper proposes a solution for object detection and tracking in an autonomous driving scenario, comparing different object detectors and exploring the deployment on edge devices. The effectiveness of DeepStream technology and different object trackers is assessed using the KITTI tracking dataset.
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
(2024)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Benjamin Beiter, Divya Srinivasan, Alexander Leonessa
Summary: Powered exoskeletons can significantly reduce physical workload and have great potential impact on future labor practices. To truly assist users in achieving task goals, a shared autonomy control framework is proposed to separate the control objectives of the human and exoskeleton. Positive Power control is introduced for the human-based controller, while 'acceptance' is used as a measure of matching the exoskeleton's control objective to the human's. Both control objectives are implemented in an optimization-based Whole-Body-Control structure. The results verify the effectiveness of the control framework and its potential for improving cooperative control for powered exoskeletons.
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
(2024)
