Intuitive Hand Teleoperation by Novice Operators Using a Continuous Teleoperation Subspace

Human-in-the-loop manipulation is useful in when autonomous grasping is not able to deal sufficiently well with corner cases or cannot operate fast enough. Using the teleoperator's hand as an input device can provide an intuitive control method but requires mapping between pose spaces which may not be similar. We propose a low-dimensional and continuous teleoperation subspace which can be used as an intermediary for mapping between different hand pose spaces. We present an algorithm to project between pose space and teleoperation subspace. We use a non-anthropomorphic robot to experimentally prove that it is possible for teleoperation subspaces to effectively and intuitively enable teleoperation. In experiments, novice users completed pick and place tasks significantly faster using teleoperation subspace mapping than they did using state of the art teleoperation methods.Comment: ICRA 2018, 7 pages, 7 figures, 2 table

Obstacle Avoidance and Path Planning Using a Sparse Array of Sonars

This paper proposes an exploration method for robots equipped with a set of sonar sensors that does not allow for complete coverage of the robot's close surroundings. In such cases, there is a high risk of collision with possible undetected obstacles. The proposed method, adapted for use in urban outdoors environments, minimizes such risks while guiding the robot towards a predefined target location. During the process, a compact and accurate representation of the environment can be obtained

Passive Reaction Analysis for Grasp Stability

In this paper we focus on the following problem in multi-fingered robotic grasping: assuming that an external wrench is being applied to a grasped object, will the contact forces between the hand and the object, as well as the hand joints, respond in such a way as to preserve quasi-static equilibrium? In particular, we assume that there is no change in the joint torques being actively exerted by the motors; any change in contact forces and joint torques is due exclusively to passive effects arising in response to the external disturbance. Such passive effects include for example joints that are driven by highly geared motors (a common occurence in practice) and thus do not back drive in response to external torques. To account for non- linear phenomena encountered in such cases, and which existing methods do not consider, we formulate the problem as a mixed integer program used in the inner loop of an iterative solver. We present evidence showing that this formulation captures important effects for assessing the stability of a grasp employing some of the most commonly used actuation mechanisms.Comment: In press for IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering Special Issue 12 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl