12 papers
Terrain-Dependent Intra-Cycle Leg Timing for Effective Locomotion on Granular Slopes
Long Zhao, Xingjue Liao, Feifei Qian
Locomotion on granular slopes such as sand dunes remains a fundamental challenge for legged robots due to reduced shear strength and gravity-induced anisotropic yielding of granula…
From Impact to Insight: Dynamics-Aware Proprioceptive Terrain Sensing on Granular Media
Yifeng Zhang, Yue Wu, Jake Futterman +5
Robots that traverse natural terrain must interpret contact forces generated under highly dynamic conditions. However, most terrain characterization approaches rely on quasi-static…
Failure Mechanisms and Risk Estimation for Legged Robot Locomotion on Granular Slopes
Xingjue Liao, Feifei Qian
Locomotion on granular slopes such as sand dunes remains a fundamental challenge for legged robots due to reduced shear strength and gravity-induced anisotropic yielding of granula…
Legged Autonomous Surface Science In Analogue Environments (LASSIE): Making Every Robotic Step Count in Planetary Exploration
Cristina G. Wilson, Marion Nachon, Shipeng Liu +20
The ability to efficiently and effectively explore planetary surfaces is currently limited by the capability of wheeled rovers to traverse challenging terrains, and by pre-programm…
Proprioceptive Safe Active Navigation and Exploration for Planetary Environments
Matthew Y. Jiang, Feifei Qian, Shipeng Liu
Deformable granular terrains introduce significant locomotion and immobilization risks in planetary exploration and are difficult to detect via remote sensing (e.g., vision). Legge…
Inverse Resistive Force Theory (I-RFT): Learning granular properties through robot-terrain physical interactions
Shipeng Liu, Feng Xue, Yifeng Zhang +2
For robots to navigate safely and efficiently on soft, granular terrains, it is crucial to gather information about the terrain's mechanical properties, which directly affect locom…
Scout-Rover cooperation: online terrain strength mapping and traversal risk estimation for planetary-analog explorations
Shipeng Liu, J. Diego Caporale, Yifeng Zhang +17
Robot-aided exploration of planetary surfaces is essential for understanding geologic processes, yet many scientifically valuable regions, such as Martian dunes and lunar craters,…
Granular Loco-Manipulation: Repositioning Rocks Through Strategic Sand Avalanche
Haodi Hu, Yue Wu, Feifei Qian +1
Legged robots have the potential to leverage obstacles to climb steep sand slopes. However, efficiently repositioning these obstacles to desired locations is challenging. Here we p…
A bio-inspired sand-rolling robot: effect of body shape on sand rolling performance
Xingjue Liao, Wenhao Liu, Hao Wu +1
The capability of effectively moving on complex terrains such as sand and gravel can empower our robots to robustly operate in outdoor environments, and assist with critical tasks…
Multi-robot connective collaboration toward collective obstacle field traversal
Haodi Hu, Xingjue Liao, Wuhao Du +1
Environments with large terrain height variations present great challenges for legged robot locomotion. Drawing inspiration from fire ants' collective assembly behavior, we study s…
Learning Granular Media Avalanche Behavior for Indirectly Manipulating Obstacles on a Granular Slope
Haodi Hu, Feifei Qian, Daniel Seita
Legged robot locomotion on sand slopes is challenging due to the complex dynamics of granular media and how the lack of solid surfaces can hinder locomotion. A promising strategy,…
Human-in-the-Loop Multi-Robot Information Gathering with Inverse Submodular Maximization
Guangyao Shi, Shipeng Liu, Ellen Novoseller +2
We consider a new type of inverse combinatorial optimization, Inverse Submodular Maximization (ISM), for its application in human-in-the-loop multi-robot information gathering. For…