Motion Switching with Sensory and Instruction Signals by designing Dynamical Systems using Deep Neural Network

To ensure that a robot is able to accomplish an extensive range of tasks, it is necessary to achieve a flexible combination of multiple behaviors. This is because the design of task motions suited to each situation would become increasingly difficult as the number of situations and the types of tasks performed by them increase. To handle the switching and combination of multiple behaviors, we propose a method to design dynamical systems based on point attractors that accept (i) "instruction signals" for instruction-driven switching. We incorporate the (ii) "instruction phase" to form a point attractor and divide the target task into multiple subtasks. By forming an instruction phase that consists of point attractors, the model embeds a subtask in the form of trajectory dynamics that can be manipulated using sensory and instruction signals. Our model comprises two deep neural networks: a convolutional autoencoder and a multiple time-scale recurrent neural network. In this study, we apply the proposed method to manipulate soft materials. To evaluate our model, we design a cloth-folding task that consists of four subtasks and three patterns of instruction signals, which indicate the direction of motion. The results depict that the robot can perform the required task by combining subtasks based on sensory and instruction signals. And, our model determined the relations among these signals using its internal dynamics.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in RA-L. An accompanied video is available at this https://youtu.be/a73KFtOOB5

Learning Particle Dynamics for Manipulating Rigid Bodies, Deformable Objects, and Fluids

Real-life control tasks involve matters of various substances---rigid or soft bodies, liquid, gas---each with distinct physical behaviors. This poses challenges to traditional rigid-body physics engines. Particle-based simulators have been developed to model the dynamics of these complex scenes; however, relying on approximation techniques, their simulation often deviates from real-world physics, especially in the long term. In this paper, we propose to learn a particle-based simulator for complex control tasks. Combining learning with particle-based systems brings in two major benefits: first, the learned simulator, just like other particle-based systems, acts widely on objects of different materials; second, the particle-based representation poses strong inductive bias for learning: particles of the same type have the same dynamics within. This enables the model to quickly adapt to new environments of unknown dynamics within a few observations. We demonstrate robots achieving complex manipulation tasks using the learned simulator, such as manipulating fluids and deformable foam, with experiments both in simulation and in the real world. Our study helps lay the foundation for robot learning of dynamic scenes with particle-based representations.Comment: Accepted to ICLR 2019. Project Page: http://dpi.csail.mit.edu Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrPpP7aW3L

New hybrid control architecture for intelligent mobile robot navigation in a manufacturing environment

U radu je prikazana nova hibridna upravljačka arhitektura namenjena za eksploataciju i navigaciju inteligentnih mobilnih robota u tehnološkom okruženju. Arhitektura je bazirana na empirijskom upravljanju i implementaciji koncepta mašinskog učenja u vidu razvoja sistema veštačkih neuronskih mreža za potrebe generisanja inteligentnog ponašanja mobilnog robota. Za razliku od konvencionalne metodologije razvoja inteligentnih mobilnih robota, predložena arhitektura je razvijena na temeljima eksperimentalnog procesa i implementacije sistema veštačkih neuronskih mreža za potrebe generisanja inteligentnog ponašanja. Predložena metodologija razvoja i implementacije inteligentnih mobilnih robota treba da omogući nesmetanu i pouzdanu eksploataciju ali i robustnost u pogledu generisane upravljačke komande, kao odgovora robota na trenutno stanje tehnološkog okruženja.This paper presents a new hybrid control architecture for Intelligent Mobile Robot navigation based on implementation of Artificial Neural Networks for behavior generation. The architecture is founded on the use of Artificial Neural Networks for assemblage of fast reacting behaviors, obstacle detection and module for action selection based on environment classification. In contrast to standard formulation of robot behaviors, in proposed architecture there will be no explicit modeling of robot behaviors. Instead, the use of empirical data gathered in experimental process and Artificial Neural Networks should insure proper generation of particular behavior. In this way, the overall architectural response should be flexible and robust to failures, and consequently provide reliableness in exploitation. These issues are important especially if one takes under consideration that this particular architecture is being developed for mobile robot operating in manufacturing environment as a component of Intelligent Manufacturing System

NASA Center for Intelligent Robotic Systems for Space Exploration

NASA's program for the civilian exploration of space is a challenge to scientists and engineers to help maintain and further develop the United States' position of leadership in a focused sphere of space activity. Such an ambitious plan requires the contribution and further development of many scientific and technological fields. One research area essential for the success of these space exploration programs is Intelligent Robotic Systems. These systems represent a class of autonomous and semi-autonomous machines that can perform human-like functions with or without human interaction. They are fundamental for activities too hazardous for humans or too distant or complex for remote telemanipulation. To meet this challenge, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has established an Engineering Research Center for Intelligent Robotic Systems for Space Exploration (CIRSSE). The Center was created with a five year $5.5 million grant from NASA submitted by a team of the Robotics and Automation Laboratories. The Robotics and Automation Laboratories of RPI are the result of the merger of the Robotics and Automation Laboratory of the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering (ECSE) and the Research Laboratory for Kinematics and Robotic Mechanisms of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, and Mechanics (ME,AE,&M), in 1987. This report is an examination of the activities that are centered at CIRSSE

Hierarchical workflow management system for life science applications

In modern laboratories, an increasing number of automated stations and instruments are applied as standalone automated systems such as biological high throughput screening systems, chemical parallel reactors etc. At the same time, the mobile robot transportation solution becomes popular with the development of robotic technologies. In this dissertation, a new superordinate control system, called hierarchical workflow management system (HWMS) is presented to manage and to handle both, automated laboratory systems and logistics systems.In modernen Labors werden immer mehr automatisierte Stationen und Instrumente als eigenständige automatisierte Systeme eingesetzt, wie beispielsweise biologische High-Throughput-Screening-Systeme und chemische Parallelreaktoren. Mit der Entwicklung der Robotertechnologien wird gleichzeitig die mobile Robotertransportlösung populär. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde ein hierarchisches Verwaltungssystem für Abeitsablauf, welches auch als HWMS bekannt ist, entwickelt. Das neue übergeordnete Kontrollsystem kann sowohl automatisierte Laborsysteme als auch Logistiksysteme verwalten und behandeln

Machine Learning Meets Advanced Robotic Manipulation

Automated industries lead to high quality production, lower manufacturing cost and better utilization of human resources. Robotic manipulator arms have major role in the automation process. However, for complex manipulation tasks, hard coding efficient and safe trajectories is challenging and time consuming. Machine learning methods have the potential to learn such controllers based on expert demonstrations. Despite promising advances, better approaches must be developed to improve safety, reliability, and efficiency of ML methods in both training and deployment phases. This survey aims to review cutting edge technologies and recent trends on ML methods applied to real-world manipulation tasks. After reviewing the related background on ML, the rest of the paper is devoted to ML applications in different domains such as industry, healthcare, agriculture, space, military, and search and rescue. The paper is closed with important research directions for future works

Task Assignment and Path Planning for Autonomous Mobile Robots in Stochastic Warehouse Systems

The material handling industry is in the middle of a transformation from manual operations to automation due to the rapid growth in e-commerce. Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are being widely implemented to replace manually operated forklifts in warehouse systems to fulfil large shipping demand, extend warehouse operating hours, and mitigate safety concerns. Two open questions in AMR management are task assignment and path planning. This dissertation addresses the task assignment and path planning (TAPP) problem for autonomous mobile robots (AMR) in a warehouse environment. The goals are to maximize system productivity by avoiding AMR traffic and reducing travel time. The first topic in this dissertation is the development of a discrete event simulation modeling framework that can be used to evaluate alternative traffic control rules, task assignment methods, and path planning algorithms. The second topic, Risk Interval Path Planning (RIPP), is an algorithm designed to avoid conflicts among AMRs considering uncertainties in robot motion. The third topic is a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) model that is developed to solve task assignment and path planning problems, simultaneously. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of these methods in stochastic warehouse systems