Article
Robotics
Prabakaran Veerajagadheswar, Shi Yuyao, Prathap Kandasamy, Mohan R. Elara, Abdullah A. Hayat
Summary: This letter introduces a novel robotic platform called s-Sacrr, which can change its morphology to traverse different surfaces for cleaning tasks on staircases and slopes. The robot has a reconfiguring feature that allows it to perform area coverage on various structures. Experimental results demonstrate the robot's ability to smoothly traverse and cover staircases and inclined surfaces.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Robotics
Carly Thalman, Marielle Prescott Debeurre, Hyunglae Lee
Summary: The study found that the novel soft robotic ankle-foot orthosis (SR-AFO) has significant potential in gait entrainment, effectively improving gait adaptation and rehabilitation. All 10 subjects were successfully entrained with the SR-AFO, and the observed basin of entrainment was substantially higher compared to a heavy rigid ankle robot, confirming its effectiveness.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Xin Shu, Fenglei Ni, Xinyang Fan, Shuai Yang, Changyuan Liu, Baoxu Tu, Yiwei Liu, Hong Liu
Summary: Humanoid robots have attracted attention for their compatibility with human environments, but they still lack stability and reliability in real-world settings. Combining humanoid robots with various stable mobile platforms is a favored solution. This article presents a versatile humanoid robot platform, which allows flexible deployment in diverse scenarios by incorporating multimodal perception and extensible interfaces. The platform has achieved impressive integration, lightness, dexterity, and strength, with the goal of human-intelligent manipulation skills for human-engineered environments. The article elaborates on design choices, subsystems, and demonstrates the platform's performance through experiments.
CAAI TRANSACTIONS ON INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Harsh Maithani, Juan Antonio Corrales Ramon, Laurent Lequievre, Youcef Mezouar, Matthieu Alric
Summary: This study demonstrates a proof of concept of a physical human-robot interaction-based assistive strategy for an industrial meat cutting system, which can potentially be transferred to an exoskeleton. The research focuses on how a robot can assist a human in meat processing, specifically in the meat cutting industry, by developing two assistive strategies and integrating them into an impedance controller.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Yu-Chen Sun, Meysam Effati, Hani E. E. Naguib, Goldie Nejat
Summary: When we talk about soft in the context of socially assistive robots (SARs), we usually refer to the soft outer shells of these robots. However, soft robotics, which incorporates smart materials for biomimetic motions and responsive sensing, has not been fully utilized in SAR design. This perspective article introduces SoftSAR as a new collaborative research area that explores the potential benefits of soft robotics in SARs. It discusses how soft robotic mechanisms can enhance actuation and sensory designs, and how they can inform future SAR applications.
Review
Computer Science, Information Systems
S. M. Bhagya P. Samarakoon, M. A. Viraj J. Muthugala, A. G. Buddhika P. Jayasekara
Summary: An emerging trend of using service robots in various applications is seen as a promising effort to improve the quality of life. These robots are designed for non-expert users and often need to navigate in environments with humans. Therefore, it is important for these robots to exhibit human-friendly navigation behavior. This paper presents a review on Human-Robot Proxemics (HRP), including user studies and methods for establishing HRP awareness in service robots. The review identifies limitations in current state-of-the-art research and suggests potential future work. Additionally, it summarizes important HRP parameters and behavior from existing user studies, providing valuable data for developing HRP-aware behavior in service robots.
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Ricardo C. Mello, Sergio D. Sierra, Wandercleyson M. Scheidegger, Marcela C. Munera, Carlos A. Cifuentes, Moises R. N. Ribeiro, Anselmo Frizera-Neto
Summary: Despite the popularity of cloud robotics, there is still a lack of comprehensive analysis on various aspects of the technology. This study proposes an open framework based on ROS for robot-cloud communication and presents practical implementations and experiments to demonstrate its feasibility in different applications, even under non-ideal network and cloud settings.
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Anh Vu Le, Balakrishnan Ramalingam, Braulio Felix Gomez, Rajesh Elara Mohan, Tran Hoang Quang Minh, Vinu Sivanantham
Summary: This study presents a 3D human space-based surveillance system enabling selective cleaning, using AI technology on a HSR robot to autonomously navigate and clean by representing human density as a heatmap and utilizing real-time tracking technology.
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Enrique Coronado, Dominique Deuff, Pamela Carreno-Medrano, Leimin Tian, Dana Kulic, Shanti Sumartojo, Fulvio Mastrogiovanni, Gentiane Venture
Summary: This article introduces a new end-user development framework called RIZE aimed at democratizing the field of robotics. The framework provides software tools for professionals with different backgrounds to design, adapt, and scale-up robotics applications. Code generated by Open RIZE is modular, reusable, and platform-agnostic, making it easy to use and learn.
Article
Robotics
Michael Fulton, Junaed Sattar, Rafa Absar
Summary: SIREN is a novel audio-based communication system for underwater human-robot interaction, which uses a surface transducer to produce sound by vibrating the underwater robot's outer surface. The system includes synthesized text-to-speech (TTS-sonemes) and synthesized musical indicators (Tone-sonemes) for communication. Through a human study with 12 participants, the system's capabilities for underwater communication were evaluated. The results demonstrate that sound is a viable method of underwater communication, with TTS-sonemes performing better at close distances and Tone-sonemes remaining recognizable at longer distances.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
M. A. Viraj J. Muthugala, S. M. Bhagya P. Samarakoon, Prabakaran Veerajagadheswar, Mohan Rajesh Elara
Summary: This study proposes a control strategy for a reconfigurable staircase cleaning robot to ensure area coverage and safety, with the development of two Fuzzy Logic Systems to correct heading and clearance distance during sideways movements, as well as a vision-based perception mechanism for accurate measurements. The experiments validate that the proposed method can ensure coverage and safety by properly maintaining the heading and clearance of the robot with respect to a riser in a typical staircase setting.
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Dongting Li, Emiliano Quinones Yumbla, Alyssa Olivas, Thomas Sugar, Heni Ben Amor, Hyunglae Lee, Wenlong Zhang, Daniel M. Aukes
Summary: This article introduces a wearable exo-shell device inspired by the human spine to improve the gait of elderly people during obstacle avoidance tasks. The device is designed with origami-inspired techniques and features a chain of lockable joints with a braking system. The article describes the kinematics and forces of the device, discusses the integration of various sensors, and characterizes the performance of the device.
IEEE-ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Jaroslaw Karwowski, Wojciech Szynkiewicz
Summary: This work presents a comprehensive benchmark, SRPB, for quantitatively assessing robot navigation methods. It extends task performance scores and proposes novel social metrics regarding robot motion naturalness and perceived safety. The experiments show that the human-aware trajectory planners significantly improve human-awareness indicators while maintaining reasonable navigation performance. An open-source implementation compatible with ROS is provided.
Review
Construction & Building Technology
Adetayo Olugbenga Onososen, Innocent Musonda, Molusiwa Ramabodu
Summary: While previous studies have explored various themes in construction robotics and human-robot teams research, there has been a lack of in-depth investigation into methodological paradigms suitable for construction robotics research. This study aims to fill this gap by conducting a four-stage review using a scientometric and systematic analysis method with 112 articles. By employing statistical analysis, the study reveals strong associations between research methods, data sources, and analytical techniques. The findings also indicate a trend towards mixed paradigms in data sources and designs, indicating methodological plurality in construction robotics research. The implications for the future of construction robotics, policy, and stakeholders are also discussed.
Review
Chemistry, Analytical
Carina Soledad Gonzalez-Gonzalez, Rosa Maria Gil-Iranzo, Patricia Paderewski-Rodriguez
Summary: This paper presents a systematic literature review on sexual robots, revealing a male bias in the discipline and the increasing relevance of user opinions in recent years. Insights and recommendations for addressing gender and ethics in designing sexual robots were provided.
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Morgane Chevalier, Fanny Riedo, Francesco Mondada
IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE
(2016)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Luca Mondada, Mohammad Ehsanul Karim, Francesco Mondada
SWARM INTELLIGENCE
(2016)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Francesco Mondada, Michael Bonani, Fanny Riedo, Manon Briod, Lea Pereyre, Philippe Retornaz, Stephane Magnenat
IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE
(2017)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
A. Gribovskiy, J. Halloy, J. L. Deneubourg, F. Mondada
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
(2018)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Hadi Ardiny, Stefan Witwicki, Francesco Mondada
Article
Education, Scientific Disciplines
Laila El-Hamamsy, Barbara Bruno, Sunny Avry, Frederique Chessel-Lazzarotto, Jessica Dehler Zufferey, Francesco Mondada
Summary: The adoption of CS pedagogical content by teachers is crucial for the success of education reform. However, there is a lack of studies on the adoption of CS-CPD programs and factors influencing the uptake of this new discipline. Therefore, this study proposes the Teachers' Adoption of CS (TACS) model to investigate these factors.
ACM TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTING EDUCATION
(2023)
Article
Education, Scientific Disciplines
Laila El-Hamamsy, Jean-Philippe Pellet, Matthew Roberts, Helena Kovacs, Barbara Bruno, Jessica Dehler Zufferey, Francesco Mondada
Summary: This study investigates how Research Practice Partnerships (RPPs) can support the successful introduction of Computer Science (CS) into formal education. The findings indicate that students' self-efficacy increased while their motivation decreased throughout the semester. From the teachers' perspective, collaboration and support were important factors in their experience. However, there is a research-practice gap that needs to be addressed, particularly in terms of stronger interactions between researchers, curriculum designers, and teachers.
ACM TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTING EDUCATION
(2023)
Article
Robotics
Rafael Barmak, Martin Stefanec, Daniel N. Hofstadler, Louis Piotet, Stefan Schoenwetter-Fuchs-Schistek, Francesco Mondada, Thomas Schmickl, Rob Mills
Summary: Robotic technologies have the capability to interact with living organisms and form integrated mixed societies with them. Biocompatible robots can be used to study collective behaviors previously unattainable with traditional techniques. In this study, a robotic system was designed to observe and modulate the collective behaviors of a bee cluster, effectively influencing its spatiotemporal reorganization. This research opens the door to investigating and interacting with animals in a complete social context, and has potential applications in enhancing the survivability of pollinators crucial to ecosystems and food supply.
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Vaios Papaspyros, Daniel Burnier, Raphael Cherfan, Guy Theraulaz, Clement Sire, Francesco Mondada
Summary: Traditionally, the collective behavior of animals has been studied through observation, quantitative behavior models, and low intelligence devices. However, advancements in robotics now allow for real-time closed-loop experiments and the integration of artificial agents into groups of animals and robots. In this study, a Biohybrid Observation and Interaction (BOBI) platform for small animals was introduced, consisting of an experimental setup, a wheeled mobile robot called LureBot, and accompanying software. The platform was demonstrated through experiments with rummy-nose tetra fish, showcasing their preference for biomimetic lures and the robot's success in engaging in social interactions with the fish.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Alberto Piatti, Giorgia Adorni, Laila El-Hamamsy, Lucio Negrini, Dorit Assaf, Luca Gambardella, Francesco Mondada
Summary: This paper presents a framework, called CT-cube, for designing and evaluating computational thinking activities, considering the developmental and situated nature of these activities. An unplugged task, Cross Array Task (CAT), is designed using this framework, and the development of computational thinking skills among 109 Swiss students aged 3 to 16 is illustrated.
COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR REPORTS
(2022)
Proceedings Paper
Computer Science, Information Systems
Jerome Brender, Laila El-Hamamsy, Barbara Bruno, Frederique Chessel-Lazzarotto, Jessica Dehler Zufferey, Francesco Mondada
Summary: Research has shown that Educational Robotics can enhance student performance, interest, engagement, and collaboration in formal education. This study investigated the integration of ER into formal mathematics education, with results suggesting that robotics activities are as valid as traditional ones in helping students grasp theoretical concepts, particularly during exercise sessions. The use of robotics also broadened the number of students engaged in mathematics, regardless of their prior appreciation of the subject.
TECHNOLOGY-ENHANCED LEARNING FOR A FREE, SAFE, AND SUSTAINABLE WORLD, EC-TEL 2021
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Aditya Mehrotra, Christian Giang, Laila El-Hamamsy, Anthony Guinchard, Amaury Dame, Geraldine Zahnd, Francesco Mondada
Summary: Educational Robotics has the potential to enhance 21st-century skills, but the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic required innovative solutions. This study explored maker-based approaches for implementing Educational Robotics activities in online learning and demonstrated their effectiveness through case studies.
Article
Education & Educational Research
Laila El-Hamamsy, Frederique Chessel-Lazzarotto, Barbara Bruno, Didier Roy, Tereza Cahlikova, Morgane Chevalier, Gabriel Parriaux, Jean-Philippe Pellet, Jacques Lanares, Jessica Dehler Zufferey, Francesco Mondada
Summary: This study validated a model of integrating CS and robotics into school curricula through a large-scale pilot study in the Canton Vaud region of Switzerland. The CPD program for primary school teachers showed positive results in terms of effectiveness and voluntary adoption rates, indicating an improvement in teachers' understanding and representation of CS.
EDUCATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
(2021)
Article
Robotics
Frank Bonnet, Rob Mills, Martina Szopek, Sarah Schoenwetter-Fuchs, Jose Halloy, Stjepan Bogdan, Luis Correia, Francesco Mondada, Thomas Schmickl
Proceedings Paper
Automation & Control Systems
Lukas Hostettler, Ayberk Oezguer, Severin Lemaignan, Pierre Dillenbourg, Francesco Mondada
2016 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION (ICRA)
(2016)
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)
