77,099 research outputs found
Learning to Slide Unknown Objects with Differentiable Physics Simulations
We propose a new technique for pushing an unknown object from an initial
configuration to a goal configuration with stability constraints. The proposed
method leverages recent progress in differentiable physics models to learn
unknown mechanical properties of pushed objects, such as their distributions of
mass and coefficients of friction. The proposed learning technique computes the
gradient of the distance between predicted poses of objects and their actual
observed poses and utilizes that gradient to search for values of the
mechanical properties that reduce the reality gap. The proposed approach is
also utilized to optimize a policy to efficiently push an object toward the
desired goal configuration. Experiments with real objects using a real robot to
gather data show that the proposed approach can identify the mechanical
properties of heterogeneous objects from a small number of pushing actions.Comment: to be published in Robotics: Science and Systems, July 12-16, 202
Physics-based Motion Planning: Evaluation Criteria and Benchmarking
Motion planning has evolved from coping with simply geometric problems to
physics-based ones that incorporate the kinodynamic and the physical
constraints imposed by the robot and the physical world. Therefore, the
criteria for evaluating physics-based motion planners goes beyond the
computational complexity (e.g. in terms of planning time) usually used as a
measure for evaluating geometrical planners, in order to consider also the
quality of the solution in terms of dynamical parameters. This study proposes
an evaluation criteria and analyzes the performance of several kinodynamic
planners, which are at the core of physics-based motion planning, using
different scenarios with fixed and manipulatable objects. RRT, EST, KPIECE and
SyCLoP are used for the benchmarking. The results show that KPIECE computes the
time-optimal solution with heighest success rate, whereas, SyCLoP compute the
most power-optimal solution among the planners used.Comment: Robot2015 - Second Iberian Robotics Conferenc
Ontological Physics-based Motion Planning for Manipulation
Robotic manipulation involves actions where contacts occur between the robot
and the objects. In this scope, the availability of physics-based engines
allows motion planners to comprise dynamics between rigid bodies, which is
necessary for planning this type of actions. However, physics-based motion
planning is computationally intensive due to the high dimensionality of the
state space and the need to work with a low integration step to find accurate
solutions. On the other hand, manipulation actions change the environment and
conditions further actions and motions. To cope with this issue, the
representation of manipulation actions using ontologies enables a
semantic-based inference process that alleviates the computational cost of
motion planning. This paper proposes a manipulation planning framework where
physics-based motion planning is enhanced with ontological knowledge
representation and reasoning. The proposal has been implemented and is
illustrated and validated with a simple example. Its use in grasping tasks in
cluttered environments is currently under development.Comment: IEEE 20th Conference on Emerging Technologies Factory Automation
(ETFA) 201
Randomized Physics-based Motion Planning for Grasping in Cluttered and Uncertain Environments
Planning motions to grasp an object in cluttered and uncertain environments
is a challenging task, particularly when a collision-free trajectory does not
exist and objects obstructing the way are required to be carefully grasped and
moved out. This paper takes a different approach and proposes to address this
problem by using a randomized physics-based motion planner that permits
robot-object and object-object interactions. The main idea is to avoid an
explicit high-level reasoning of the task by providing the motion planner with
a physics engine to evaluate possible complex multi-body dynamical
interactions. The approach is able to solve the problem in complex scenarios,
also considering uncertainty in the objects pose and in the contact dynamics.
The work enhances the state validity checker, the control sampler and the tree
exploration strategy of a kinodynamic motion planner called KPIECE. The
enhanced algorithm, called p-KPIECE, has been validated in simulation and with
real experiments. The results have been compared with an ontological
physics-based motion planner and with task and motion planning approaches,
resulting in a significant improvement in terms of planning time, success rate
and quality of the solution path.Comment: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. Preprin Version. Accepted
November, 201
Non-Prehensile Manipulation in Clutter with Human-In-The-Loop
We propose a human-operator guided planning approach to pushing-based
manipulation in clutter. Most recent approaches to manipulation in clutter
employs randomized planning. The problem, however, remains a challenging one
where the planning times are still in the order of tens of seconds or minutes,
and the success rates are low for difficult instances of the problem. We build
on these control-based randomized planning approaches, but we investigate using
them in conjunction with human-operator input. In our framework, the human
operator supplies a high-level plan, in the form of an ordered sequence of
objects and their approximate goal positions. We present experiments in
simulation and on a real robotic setup, where we compare the success rate and
planning times of our human-in-the-loop approach with fully autonomous
sampling-based planners. We show that with a minimal amount of human input, the
low-level planner can solve the problem faster and with higher success rates.Comment: To appear in Proceedings of International Conference on Robotics and
Automation 2020, Paris, Franc
A Hybrid Strategy for the Discovery and Design of Photonic Nanostructures
Designing complex physical systems, including photonic structures, is
typically a tedious trial-and-error process that requires extensive simulations
with iterative sweeps in multi-dimensional parameter space. To circumvent this
conventional approach and substantially expedite the discovery and development
of photonic structures, here we develop a framework leveraging both a deep
generative model and a modified evolution strategy to automate the inverse
design of engineered nanophotonic materials. The capacity of the proposed
methodology is tested through the application to a case study, where
metasurfaces in either continuous or discrete topologies are generated in
response to customer-defined spectra at the input. Through a variational
autoencoder, all potential patterns of unit nanostructures are encoded into a
continuous latent space. An evolution strategy is applied to vectors in the
latent space to identify an optimized vector whose nanostructure pattern
fulfills the design objective. The evaluation shows that over 95% accuracy can
be achieved for all the unit patterns of the nanostructure tested. Our scheme
requires no prior knowledge of the geometry of the nanostructure, and, in
principle, allows joint optimization of the dimensional parameters. As such,
our work represents an efficient, on-demand, and automated approach for the
inverse design of photonic structures with subwavelength features.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, typos correcte
Thermally triggered phononic gaps in liquids at THz scale
In this paper we present inelastic X-ray scattering experiments in a diamond
anvil cell and molecular dynamic simulations to investigate the behavior of
phononic excitations in liquid Ar. The spectra calculated using molecular
dynamics were found to be in a good agreement with the experimental data.
Furthermore, we observe that, upon temperature increases, a low-frequency
transverse phononic gap emerges while high-frequency propagating modes become
evanescent at the THz scale. The effect of strong localization of a
longitudinal phononic mode in the supercritical phase is observed for the first
time. The evidence for the high-frequency transverse phononic gap due to the
transition from an oscillatory to a ballistic dynamic regimes of motion is
presented and supported by molecular dynamics simulations. This transition
takes place across the Frenkel line thermodynamic limit which demarcates
compressed liquid and non-compressed fluid domains on the phase diagram and is
supported by calculations within the Green-Kubo phenomenological formalism.
These results are crucial to advance the development of novel terahertz thermal
devices, phononic lenses, mirrors, and other THz metamaterials.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1512.0720
Organizing the Aggregate: Languages for Spatial Computing
As the number of computing devices embedded into engineered systems continues
to rise, there is a widening gap between the needs of the user to control
aggregates of devices and the complex technology of individual devices. Spatial
computing attempts to bridge this gap for systems with local communication by
exploiting the connection between physical locality and device connectivity. A
large number of spatial computing domain specific languages (DSLs) have emerged
across diverse domains, from biology and reconfigurable computing, to sensor
networks and agent-based systems. In this chapter, we develop a framework for
analyzing and comparing spatial computing DSLs, survey the current state of the
art, and provide a roadmap for future spatial computing DSL investigation.Comment: 60 pages; Review chapter to appear as a chapter in book "Formal and
Practical Aspects of Domain-Specific Languages: Recent Developments
Model-Driven Feed-Forward Prediction for Manipulation of Deformable Objects
Robotic manipulation of deformable objects is a difficult problem especially
because of the complexity of the many different ways an object can deform.
Searching such a high dimensional state space makes it difficult to recognize,
track, and manipulate deformable objects. In this paper, we introduce a
predictive, model-driven approach to address this challenge, using a
pre-computed, simulated database of deformable object models. Mesh models of
common deformable garments are simulated with the garments picked up in
multiple different poses under gravity, and stored in a database for fast and
efficient retrieval. To validate this approach, we developed a comprehensive
pipeline for manipulating clothing as in a typical laundry task. First, the
database is used for category and pose estimation for a garment in an arbitrary
position. A fully featured 3D model of the garment is constructed in real-time
and volumetric features are then used to obtain the most similar model in the
database to predict the object category and pose. Second, the database can
significantly benefit the manipulation of deformable objects via non-rigid
registration, providing accurate correspondences between the reconstructed
object model and the database models. Third, the accurate model simulation can
also be used to optimize the trajectories for manipulation of deformable
objects, such as the folding of garments. Extensive experimental results are
shown for the tasks above using a variety of different clothing.Comment: 21 pages, 27 figure
Analysis of Handover Failures in Heterogeneous Networks with Fading
The handover process is one of the most critical functions in a cellular
network, and is in charge of maintaining seamless connectivity of user
equipments (UEs) across multiple cells. It is usually based on signal
measurements from the neighboring base stations (BSs), and it is adversely
affected by the time and frequency selectivity of the radio propagation
channel. In this paper, we introduce a new model for analyzing handover
performance in heterogeneous networks (HetNets) as a function of vehicular user
velocity, cell size, and mobility management parameters. In order to
investigate the impact of shadowing and fading on handover performance, we
extract relevant statistics obtained from a 3rd Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP)-compliant HetNet simulator, and subsequently, we integrate these
statistics into our analytical model to analyze handover failure probability
under fluctuating channel conditions. Computer simulations validate the
analytical findings, which show that fading can significantly degrade the
handover performance in HetNets with vehicular users.Comment: 12 page, 16 figure
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