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Filtering by: Academic Affiliation Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering Remove constraint Academic Affiliation: Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering Degree Field Robotics Remove constraint Degree Field: Robotics Rights Statement In Copyright Remove constraint Rights Statement: In Copyright

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  • Learning from optimization for bipedal robots

    Creator:
    Yu, Fangzhou
    Abstract:
    Legged robots have consistently captured our collective imagination through various forms of media, from Hollywood films, anime, and viral Youtube videos of robots accomplishing incredible feats of acrobatics. These robots have the potential to navigate our environments, capable of completing tasks that would otherwise require human intervention. However, developing controls...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis

  • Toward Machine Learning-Enabled Adaptivity for Humorous Robots

    Creator:
    Gray, Carson C.
    Abstract:
    Social robots benefit from a sense of humor, which requires the ability to recognize and adapt to human responses during playful interactions. Past work on humorous robots has classified audience responses with audio-based and preliminary visual-based methods following the joke punchline. Building on this progress, we conducted a survey of...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis

  • Human Performance with Multiple UAV Systems: Use Cases and Modeling

    Creator:
    Uriarte, Patrick A.
    Abstract:
    Commercial and public safety usage of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the National Airspace is currently restricted by federal regulation. The Federal Aeronautics Association is interested in modifying the restrictions; however, research is needed to study the human factor and required aptitude for a single human operating multiple UAVs. This Master’s...
    Resource Type:
    Capstone Project

  • Robotic Actuation and Control with Programmable, Field-Activated Material Systems

    Creator:
    Bira, Nicholas P.
    Abstract:
    This dissertation presents novel, field-activated smart material systems for the actuation and control of autonomous robots. Smart materials, a type of material whose properties can be changed with an external stimuli, represent a promising direction to expand upon existing robotic control and actuation methods, particularly in the sub-fields of soft...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation

  • Agile Bipedal Locomotion via Hierarchical Control by Incorporating Physical Principles, Learning, and Optimization

    Creator:
    Green, Kevin
    Abstract:
    Robotic Bipedal locomotion holds the potential for efficient, robust traversal of difficult terrain. The difficulty lies in the dynamics of locomotion which complicate control and motion planning. Bipedal locomotion dynamics are dimensionally large problems, extremely nonlinear, and operate on the limits of actuator capabilities, which limit the performance of generic...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation

  • Agile Bipedal Maneuvers Optimized then Learned from Single Rigid-Body Model Dynamics

    Creator:
    Batke, Ryan
    Abstract:
    As bipedal robots move ever closer to being integrated into all manner of real world envi-ronments there is a necessity to push their dynamic capabilities to meet or exceed those of humans and animals. Advancements must be made to address ordinary challenges that arise everyday in the same environments that...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis

  • Practical Reinforcement Learning for Bipedal Locomotion

    Creator:
    Dao, Jeremy
    Abstract:
    Reinforcement learning has emerged as a popular tool for solving control tasks, with multiple works focusing on the complex and dynamic task of locomotion. However, the naive application of reinforcement learning to this problem often produces maladaptive policies that exploit the model or reward function. This results in behavior that...
    Resource Type:
    Capstone Project

  • Designing and Evaluating a User Interface for Multi-Robot Furniture

    Creator:
    Stoddard, Brett
    Abstract:
    A chair, once placed, will stay put until moved. Or will it? With the rise of technology being embeddable into everyday objects, what if that chair could move itself? Such robotic furniture has been featured in advertisements, art, and Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) research. Existing methods for operating robotic furniture have...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis

  • Geometric Optimization Methods for Mobile Systems

    Creator:
    Bass, Capprin J.
    Abstract:
    When studying robot systems, it is common to ask about optimal approaches to accomplish a given task. In the context of mobile systems, particularly biomimetic systems, optimization tasks are closely related to the relevant dynamics of locomotion. In this thesis, building on prior work from the geometric mechanics community, we...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis

  • Efficiently Learning Human Preferences for Robot Autonomy

    Creator:
    Somers, Thane N.
    Abstract:
    Human-robot teams are invaluable for mapping unknown environments, exploring difficult-to-reach areas, and manipulating inaccessible equipment. However, guiding autonomous robots requires dealing with these dynamic domains while synthesizing a significant amount of data and balancing competing objectives. Current mission planning methods often involve manually specifying low-level parameters of the mission, such...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis

  • Providing Informative Feedback for Learning in Tightly Coupled Multiagent Domains

    Creator:
    Rockefeller, Golden C.
    Abstract:
    Autonomous agents that sense, decide, act, and coordinate effectively with each other are critical in many real-world domains such as autonomous driving, search and rescue missions, air traffic management, and underwater or deep space exploration. All such domains share a key difficulty: though high-level mission goals are clear to system...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation

  • Deep Perception Without a Camera: Enabling 3D Reconstruction and Object Recognition using Lidar and Sonar Sensing

    Creator:
    DeBortoli, Robert A.
    Abstract:
    Deep learning has recently revolutionized robot perception in many canonical robotic applications, such as autonomous driving. However, a similar transformation has yet to occur in more harsh environments including underwater and underground. This is due in part to the difficulty in deploying robots in these environments, which lack large real...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation

  • Geometry of Locomotion

    Creator:
    Ramasamy, Suresh
    Abstract:
    Many animals and robots move through the world by coupling cyclical changes in shape called gaits to an interaction with the environment. Because mobility is an important aspect of such robots, a key metric when evaluating design and performance of mobile robots is the efficiency of their optimal gaits. The...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation

  • Improving Soft Snake Robot Locomotion Through Targeted Environmental Interactions Using Artificial Snake Skin

    Creator:
    Branyan, Callie A.
    Abstract:
    This dissertation outlines the design and development of the first fully-soft, snake robot and its snake-inspired skin. Soft robotics takes advantage of soft materials to, among other things, improve robot interactions with complex, unstructured environments. Due to the interplay between the soft material and the environment, minor tweaks to the...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation

  • Structure and Actuation of Cephalopod-Inspired Soft Robots

    Creator:
    Olson, Gina M.
    Abstract:
    Cephalopod-inspired soft robot arms have been studied as a new type of manipulator. These arms have been proposed for reach and grab tasks, underwater locomotion via swimming and walking, and robotic surgery. However, the capabilities of existing soft arms are limited to simple motions and light loads. Arm design has...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation

  • Orb Web Vibrations: Modeling, Localization, and Measurement

    Creator:
    Otto, Andrew W.
    Abstract:
    The orb web is a multipurpose structure---serving as a home for its inhabitant spider, as a prey capture device, and as a physical extension of the spider’s sensing abilities. Biologists are particularly interested in the spider’s ability to locate prey trapped in its web by sensing the vibrations induced from...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation

  • Smooth Trajectory Generation for Machine Tools and Industrial Robots

    Creator:
    Tajima, Shingo
    Abstract:
    This thesis presents accurate and time-optimal smooth reference trajectory generation techniques for manufacturing equipment such as high-speed machine tools (MT) and industrial robots (IR). Typical machining tool-paths for MTs and IRs are defined as a series of discrete linear moves. Although Point-to-Point (P2P) feed motion can be generated by interpolating...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation

  • Initial Designs for Improving Conversations for People Using Speech Synthesizers

    Creator:
    Nguyen, Duy M.
    Abstract:
    This thesis aims to determine the impact that Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices have on social interactions, and then improves the AAC user experience through a user focus design process. AAC devices enable people who cannot speak to communicate with others. Unfortunately, they are tedious to use and make...
    Resource Type:
    Masters Thesis

  • Geometric Motion Planning for Inertial Systems

    Creator:
    Faraji, Hossein
    Abstract:
    In order to enable better visualization and understanding of the effect of the robot's geometry and inertia on the robot's trajectories, this dissertation proposes to use geometric mechanics to bridge the gap between the physical motion of a robot and its mathematical structure. The main focus of this research is...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation

  • Privacy-Sensitive Robotics

    Creator:
    Rueben, Matthew R.
    Abstract:
    This dissertation focuses on personal privacy in human-robot interaction, which we call "privacy-sensitive robotics." Our understanding of "privacy" is very broad, including not just information privacy but also physical, psychological, and social privacy. We begin by surveying the scholarly literature on privacy and talking about why it applies to interactions...
    Resource Type:
    Dissertation