241 citations · 282 across the 22 of their papers we have counts for
25 papers
Scaling Latent Motor Adaptation to Coordinated Bimanual Manipulation
Seung-Bin Joo, Alessandro Albini, Luca Wiehe +3
Robust manipulation under uncertain object dynamics and geometry remains a core challenge in real-world robotics. Policies trained under fixed assumptions often degrade when object…
An End-to-End Framework for Modelling Pneumatic Soft Robots Based on Differentiable Finite Element Methods
Shaohong Zhong, Yao Yao, Perla Maiolino +1
Soft robots present significant modelling challenges due to their non-linearity, complex dynamics and potentially intricate geometries. These difficulties in accurate system identi…
PneuTac: Tactile Manipulation with Soft Pneumatic Robots via Unified MPM-Gaussian Splatting Simulation
Shaohong Zhong, Marco Pontin, Joe Watson +2
Soft robots and tactile sensors have demonstrated great potential in delicate manipulation tasks. Soft pneumatic robots enable safe contact through compliance, and vision-based tac…
Quadruped Obstacle Avoidance and Footstep Planning with Distributed Low-cost Time-of-Flight Sensors
Giammarco Caroleo, Timothée Mahamoodally, Matteo Manzardo +6
Quadruped robots typically rely on depth cameras and LiDAR sensors to map their local environment. However, these sensors have limited close-range coverage, are relatively expensiv…
Generalized Task-Driven Design of Soft Robots via Reduced-Order FEM-based Surrogate Modeling
Yao Yao, David Howard, Perla Maiolino
Task-driven design of soft robots requires models that are physically accurate and computationally efficient, while remaining transferable across actuator designs and task scenario…
Continuum Robot Localization using Distributed Time-of-Flight Sensors
Spencer Teetaert, Giammarco Caroleo, Marco Pontin +4
Localization and mapping of an environment are crucial tasks for any robot operating in unstructured environments. Time-of-flight (ToF) sensors (e.g.,~lidar) have proven useful in…
Diffusion-based Inverse Model of a Distributed Tactile Sensor for Object Pose Estimation
Ante Marić, Giammarco Caroleo, Alessandro Albini +3
Tactile sensing provides a promising sensing modality for object pose estimation in manipulation settings where visual information is limited due to occlusion or environmental effe…
Representing Data in Robotic Tactile Perception -- A Review
Alessandro Albini, Mohsen Kaboli, Giorgio Cannata +1
Robotic tactile perception is a complex process involving several computational steps performed at different levels. Tactile information is shaped by the interplay of robot actions…
Improving Tactile Gesture Recognition with Optical Flow
Shaohong Zhong, Alessandro Albini, Giammarco Caroleo +2
Tactile gesture recognition systems play a crucial role in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) by enabling intuitive communication between humans and robots. The literature mainly addres…
Optical Waveguide-based Spider Web Enables Resilient Impact Detection and Localization
Dylan Wilson, Marco Pontin, Peter Walters +1
Spiders use their webs as multifunctional tools that enable capturing and localizing prey and more general environmental sensing through vibrations. Inspired by their biological fu…
Diffusion-based Inverse Observation Model for Artificial Skin
Ante Maric, Julius Jankowski, Giammarco Caroleo +3
Contact-based estimation of object pose is challenging due to discontinuities and ambiguous observations that can correspond to multiple possible system states. This multimodality…
Estimating Scene Flow in Robot Surroundings with Distributed Miniaturized Time-of-Flight Sensors
Jack Sander, Giammarco Caroleo, Alessandro Albini +1
Tracking motions of humans or objects in the surroundings of the robot is essential to improve safe robot motions and reactions. In this work, we present an approach for scene flow…
Tiny LiDARs for Manipulator Self-Awareness: Sensor Characterization and Initial Localization Experiments
Giammarco Caroleo, Alessandro Albini, Daniele De Martini +2
For several tasks, ranging from manipulation to inspection, it is beneficial for robots to localize a target object in their surroundings. In this paper, we propose an approach tha…
Compliant Beaded-String Jamming For Variable Stiffness Anthropomorphic Fingers
Maximilian Westermann, Marco Pontin, Leone Costi +2
Achieving human-like dexterity in robotic grippers remains an open challenge, particularly in ensuring robust manipulation in uncertain environments. Soft robotic hands try to addr…
Soft and Highly-Integrated Optical Fiber Bending Sensors for Proprioception in Multi-Material 3D Printed Fingers
Ellis Capp, Marco Pontin, Peter Walters +1
Accurate shape sensing, only achievable through distributed proprioception, is a key requirement for closed-loop control of soft robots. Low-cost power efficient optoelectronic sen…
JAMMit! Monolithic 3D-Printing of a Bead Jamming Soft Pneumatic Arm
Yao Yao, Maximilian Westermann, Marco Pontin +2
3D-printed bellow soft pneumatic arms are widely adopted for their flexible design, ease of fabrication, and large deformation capabilities. However, their low stiffness limits the…
Soft Robot Localization Using Distributed Miniaturized Time-of-Flight Sensors
Giammarco Caroleo, Alessandro Albini, Perla Maiolino
Thanks to their compliance and adaptability, soft robots can be deployed to perform tasks in constrained or complex environments. In these scenarios, spatial awareness of the surro…
Touch-to-Touch Translation -- Learning the Mapping Between Heterogeneous Tactile Sensing Technologies
Francesco Grella, Alessandro Albini, Giorgio Cannata +1
The use of data-driven techniques for tactile data processing and classification has recently increased. However, collecting tactile data is a time-expensive and sensor-specific pr…
Reinforcement Learning Controllers for Soft Robots using Learned Environments
Uljad Berdica, Matthew Jackson, Niccolò Enrico Veronese +2
Soft robotic manipulators offer operational advantage due to their compliant and deformable structures. However, their inherently nonlinear dynamics presents substantial challenges…
Mechanics of pressurized cellular sheets
Thomas G. J. Chandler, Jordan Ferria, Oliver Shorthose +4
Everyday experience shows that cellular sheets are stiffened by the presence of a pressurized gas: from bicycle inner tubes to bubble wrap, the presence of an internal pressure inc…
SPADA: A Toolbox of Designing Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Shape Matching based on Surrogate Modeling
Yao Yao, Liang He, Perla Maiolino
Soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs) produce motions for soft robots with simple pressure input, however they require to be appropriately designed to fit the target application. Availab…
Design and Characterization of a 3D-printed Pneumatically-driven Bistable Valve with Tunable Characteristics
Sihan Wang, Liang He, Perla Maiolino
Although research studies in pneumatic soft robots develop rapidly, most pneumatic actuators are still controlled by rigid valves and conventional electronics. The existence of the…
Three-dimensional Kinematic Metamaterial with tuneable directional permeability
Yunfang Yang, Perla Maiolino, Yan Chen +1
Reconfigurable metamaterials are constructed from tessellation of deformable modules that give rise to a set of tuneable properties. To date, most research focuses on metamaterials…
Contact modelling and tactile data processing for robot skin
Wojciech Wasko, Alessandro Albini, Perla Maiolino +2
Tactile sensing is a key enabling technology to develop complex behaviours for robots interacting with humans or the environment. This paper discusses computational aspects playing…