67 research outputs found
Visuotactile Affordances for Cloth Manipulation with Local Control
Cloth in the real world is often crumpled, self-occluded, or folded in on
itself such that key regions, such as corners, are not directly graspable,
making manipulation difficult. We propose a system that leverages visual and
tactile perception to unfold the cloth via grasping and sliding on edges. By
doing so, the robot is able to grasp two adjacent corners, enabling subsequent
manipulation tasks like folding or hanging. As components of this system, we
develop tactile perception networks that classify whether an edge is grasped
and estimate the pose of the edge. We use the edge classification network to
supervise a visuotactile edge grasp affordance network that can grasp edges
with a 90% success rate. Once an edge is grasped, we demonstrate that the robot
can slide along the cloth to the adjacent corner using tactile pose
estimation/control in real time. See
http://nehasunil.com/visuotactile/visuotactile.html for videos.Comment: Accepted at CoRL 2022. Project website:
http://nehasunil.com/visuotactile/visuotactile.htm
A Survey on Knowledge Graphs: Representation, Acquisition and Applications
Human knowledge provides a formal understanding of the world. Knowledge
graphs that represent structural relations between entities have become an
increasingly popular research direction towards cognition and human-level
intelligence. In this survey, we provide a comprehensive review of knowledge
graph covering overall research topics about 1) knowledge graph representation
learning, 2) knowledge acquisition and completion, 3) temporal knowledge graph,
and 4) knowledge-aware applications, and summarize recent breakthroughs and
perspective directions to facilitate future research. We propose a full-view
categorization and new taxonomies on these topics. Knowledge graph embedding is
organized from four aspects of representation space, scoring function, encoding
models, and auxiliary information. For knowledge acquisition, especially
knowledge graph completion, embedding methods, path inference, and logical rule
reasoning, are reviewed. We further explore several emerging topics, including
meta relational learning, commonsense reasoning, and temporal knowledge graphs.
To facilitate future research on knowledge graphs, we also provide a curated
collection of datasets and open-source libraries on different tasks. In the
end, we have a thorough outlook on several promising research directions
Cable Manipulation with a Tactile-Reactive Gripper
Cables are complex, high dimensional, and dynamic objects. Standard
approaches to manipulate them often rely on conservative strategies that
involve long series of very slow and incremental deformations, or various
mechanical fixtures such as clamps, pins or rings. We are interested in
manipulating freely moving cables, in real time, with a pair of robotic
grippers, and with no added mechanical constraints. The main contribution of
this paper is a perception and control framework that moves in that direction,
and uses real-time tactile feedback to accomplish the task of following a
dangling cable. The approach relies on a vision-based tactile sensor, GelSight,
that estimates the pose of the cable in the grip, and the friction forces
during cable sliding. We achieve the behavior by combining two tactile-based
controllers: 1) Cable grip controller, where a PD controller combined with a
leaky integrator regulates the gripping force to maintain the frictional
sliding forces close to a suitable value; and 2) Cable pose controller, where
an LQR controller based on a learned linear model of the cable sliding dynamics
keeps the cable centered and aligned on the fingertips to prevent the cable
from falling from the grip. This behavior is possible by a reactive gripper
fitted with GelSight-based high-resolution tactile sensors. The robot can
follow one meter of cable in random configurations within 2-3 hand regrasps,
adapting to cables of different materials and thicknesses. We demonstrate a
robot grasping a headphone cable, sliding the fingers to the jack connector,
and inserting it. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first
implementation of real-time cable following without the aid of mechanical
fixtures.Comment: Accepted to RSS 202
Quantitative study of macroscopic quantum tunneling in a dc SQUID: A system with two degrees of freedom
To test whether the theory of macroscopic quantum tunneling (MQT) is applicable to systems with 2 degrees of freedom, we experimentally investigated the switching current distribution of a dc SQUID. Using sample parameters determined from measurements at T=4.2 K, we are able to make quantitative comparison to the theories from 8 mK to 4.2 K. The excellent agreement between the data and the MQT theory demonstrates that tunneling from the zero-voltage state of the dc SQUID is well described by the quantum mechanics
Efficiency of underdamped dc SQUIDs as readout devices for flux qubits
The flux state quantum bit (qubit) is promising for a solid state implementation of scalable quantum computing. The simplest flux state qubit consists of an rf SQUID with two fluxoid states, which can be readout with a de SQUID-the most sensitive magnetic flux detector. Efficient readout with less back-action is desirable for quantum computing. In this work, we report measurements of the switching flux and switching current distributions of under damped dc SQUIDs. The data show that single shot readout of flux qubit with very high efficiency (>99%) can be realized using underdamped hysteretic de SQUIDs
Pih1p-Tah1p puts a lid on hexameric AAA+ ATPases Rvb1/2p
Accepted author manuscriptThe Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Sc) R2TP complex affords an Hsp90-mediated and nucleotide-driven chaperone activity to proteins of small ribonucleoprotein particles (snoRNPs). The current lack of structural information on the ScR2TP complex, however, prevents a mechanistic understanding of this biological process. We characterized the structure of the ScR2TP complex made up of two AAA+ ATPases, Rvb1/2p, and two Hsp90 binding proteins, Tah1p and Pih1p, and its interaction with the snoRNP protein Nop58p by a combination of analytical ultracentrifugation, isothermal titration calorimetry, chemical crosslinking, hydrogen-deuterium exchange, and cryoelectron microscopy methods. We find that Pih1p-Tah1p interacts with Rvb1/2p cooperatively through the nucleotide-sensitive domain of Rvb1/2p. Nop58p further binds Pih1p-Tahp1 on top of the dome-shaped R2TP. Consequently, nucleotide binding releases Pih1p-Tah1p from Rvb1/2p, which offers a mechanism for nucleotide-driven binding and release of snoRNP intermediates.Ye
Ion Doping Effects on the Lattice Distortion and Interlayer Mismatch of Aurivillius-Type Bismuth Titanate Compounds
Taking Bismuth Titanate (Bi4Ti3O12) as a Aurivillius-type compound with m = 3 for example, the ion (W6+/Cr3+) doping effect on the lattice distortion and interlayer mismatch of Bi4Ti3O12 structure were investigated by stress analysis, based on an elastic model. Since oxygen-octahedron rotates in the ab-plane, and inclines away from the c-axis, a lattice model for describing the status change of oxygen-octahedron was built according to the substituting mechanism of W6+/Cr3+ for Ti4+, which was used to investigate the variation of orthorhombic distortion degree (a/b) of Bi4Ti3O12 with the doping content. The analysis shows that the incorporation of W6+/Cr3+ into Bi4Ti3O12 tends to relieve the distortion of pseudo-perovskite layer, which also helps it to become more stiff. Since the bismuth-oxide layer expands while the pseudo-perovskite layer tightens, an analytic model for the plane stress distribution in the crystal lattice of Bi4Ti3O12 was developed from the constitutive relationship of alternating layer structure. The calculations reveal that the structural mismatch of Bi4Ti3O12 is constrained in the ab-plane of a unit cell, since both the interlayer mismatch degree and the total strain energy vary with the doping content in a similar trend to the lattice parameters of ab-plane
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