@article {3137, title = {WALK-MAN: A High-Performance Humanoid Platform for Realistic Environments}, journal = {Journal of Field Robotics}, volume = {34}, year = {2017}, month = {06/2017}, pages = {1 - 34}, abstract = {

In this work, we present WALK-MAN, a humanoid platform that has been developed to operate in realistic unstructured environment, and demonstrate new skills including powerful manipulation, robust balanced locomotion, high-strength capabilities, and physical sturdiness. To enable these capabilities, WALK-MAN design and actuation are based on the most recent advancements of series elastic actuator drives with unique performance features that differentiate the robot from previous state-of-the-art compliant actuated robots. Physical interaction performance is benefited by both active and passive adaptation, thanks to WALK-MAN actuation that combines customized high-performance modules with tuned torque/velocity curves and transmission elasticity for high-speed adaptation response and motion reactions to disturbances. WALK-MAN design also includes innovative design optimization features that consider the selection of kinematic structure and the placement of the actuators with the body structure to maximize the robot performance. Physical robustness is ensured with the integration of elastic transmission, proprioceptive sensing, and control. The WALK-MAN hardware was designed and built in 11 months, and the prototype of the robot was ready four months before DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals. The motion generation of WALK-MAN is based on the unified motion-generation framework of whole-body locomotion and manipulation (termed loco-manipulation). WALK-MAN is able to execute simple loco-manipulation behaviors synthesized by combining different primitives defining the behavior of the center of gravity, the motion of the hands, legs, and head, the body attitude and posture, and the constrained body parts such as joint limits and contacts. The motion-generation framework including the specific motion modules and software architecture is discussed in detail. A rich perception system allows the robot to perceive and generate 3D representations of the environment as well as detect contacts and sense physical interaction force and moments. The operator station that pilots use to control the robot provides a rich pilot interface with different control modes and a number of teleoperated or semiautonomous command features. The capability of the robot and the performance of the individual motion control and perception modules were validated during the DRC in which the robot was able to demonstrate exceptional physical resilience and execute some of the tasks during the competition.

}, keywords = {Robotics}, issn = {1556-4967}, doi = {10.1002/rob.21702}, url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rob.21702/epdf}, author = {N. G. Tsagarakis and D. G. Caldwell and F. Negrello and W. Choi and L. Baccelliere and V. G. Loc and J. Noorden and L. Muratore and A. Margan and A. Cardellino and L. Natale and E. Mingo Hoffman and H. Dallali and N. Kashiri and J. Malzahn and J. Lee and P. Kryczka and D. Kanoulas and M. Garabini and M. G. Catalano and M. Ferrati and V. Varricchio and L. Pallottino and C. Pavan and A. Bicchi and A Settimi and A. Rocchi and A. Ajoudani} } @conference {2893, title = {Motion Primitive Based Random Planning for Loco{\textendash}Manipulation Tasks}, booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Humanoid Robots (HUMANOIDS 2016)}, year = {2016}, note = {
This work is supported by the European commission project Walk-Man EU FP7-ICT no. 611832 and the ECs Horizon 2020 robotics program ICT-23-2014 under grant agreement 644727 (CogIMon)
}, publisher = {IEEE}, organization = {IEEE}, address = {Cancun, Mexico, 15-17 Nov. 2016 }, abstract = {

Several advanced control laws are available for
complex robotic systems such as humanoid robots and mobile
manipulators. Controls are usually developed for locomotion or
for manipulation purposes. Resulting motions are usually executed
sequentially and the potentiality of the robotic platform
is not fully exploited.
In this work we consider the problem of loco{\textendash}manipulation
planning for a robot with given parametrized control laws
known as primitives. Such primitives, may have not been
designed to be executed simultaneously and by composing
them instability may easily arise. With the proposed approach,
primitives combination that guarantee stability of the system
are obtained resulting in complex whole{\textendash}body behavior.
A formal definition of motion primitives is provided and a
random sampling approach on a manifold with limited dimension
is investigated. Probabilistic completeness and asymptotic
optimality are also proved. The proposed approach is tested
both on a mobile manipulator and on the humanoid robot
Walk-Man, performing loco{\textendash}manipulation tasks.

}, keywords = {Robotics}, isbn = {978-1-5090-4718-5 }, doi = {10.1109/HUMANOIDS.2016.7803402}, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7803402/}, author = {A Settimi and D. Caporale and P. Kryczka and M. Ferrati and L. Pallottino} } @conference {2810, title = {Multi{\textendash}object handling for robotic manufacturing}, booktitle = {IECON 2016: 42nd Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society}, year = {2016}, month = {12/2016}, pages = {6887 - 6893}, publisher = {IEEE}, organization = {IEEE}, address = {Florence, Italy, October 24-27}, abstract = {

The purpose of this work is to move a step toward the automation of industrial plants through full exploitation of autonomous robots. A planning algorithm is proposed to move different objects in desired configurations with heterogeneous robots such as manipulators, mobile robots and conveyor belts.
The proposed approach allows different objects to be handled by different robots simultaneously in an efficient way and avoiding collisions with the environment and self{\textendash}collisions between robots. In particular, the integrated system will be capable of planning paths for a set of objects from various starting points in the environment (e.g. shelves) to their respective final destinations. The proposed approach unifies the active (e.g., grasping by a hand) and passive (e.g., holding by a table) steps involved in moving the objects in the environment by treating them as end{\textendash}effectors with constraints and capabilities.
Time varying graphs will be introduced to model the problem for simultaneous handling of objects by different end{\textendash}effectors.
Optimal exploration of such graphs will be used to determine paths for each object with time constraints. Results will be validated through simulations.

}, keywords = {Robotics}, doi = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7793936/?reload=true}, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7793936/?reload=true}, author = {M. Ferrati and H. Marino and A Settimi and S. Nardi and L. Pallottino} } @article {2724, title = {On the Problem of Moving Objects With Autonomous Robots: A Unifying High-Level Planning Approach}, journal = {IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS}, volume = {1}, year = {2016}, month = {01/2016}, pages = {469-476}, abstract = {

Moving objects with autonomous robots is a wide topic that includes single-arm pick-and-place tasks, object regrasping, object passing between two or more arms in the air or using support surfaces such as tables and similar. Each task has been extensively studied and many planning solutions are already present in the literature. In this letter, we present a planning scheme which, based on the use of pre-defined elementary manipulation skills, aims to unify solutions which are usually obtained by means of different planning strategies rooted on hardcoded behaviors. Both robotic manipulators and environment fixed support surfaces are treated as end-effectors of movable and non-movable types, respectively. The task of the robot can thus be broken down into elementary building blocks, which are endeffector manipulation skills, that are then planned at the kinematic level. Feasibility is ensured by propagating unforeseen low-level failures at the higher level and by synthesizing different behaviors. The validity of the proposed solution is shown via experiments on a bimanual robot setup and in simulations involving a more complex setup similar to an assembly line.

}, keywords = {Robotics}, doi = {10.1109/LRA.2016.2519149}, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=\&arnumber=7384694}, author = {H. Marino and M. Ferrati and A Settimi and C. Rosales and M Gabiccini} } @article {2749, title = {The Walk-Man Robot Software Architecture}, journal = {Front. Robot. AI}, year = {2016}, month = {05/2016}, abstract = {

A software and control architecture for a humanoid robot is a complex and large project, which involves a team of developers/researchers to be coordinated and requires many hard design choices. If such project has to be done in a very limited time, i.e., less than 1 year, more constraints are added and concepts, such as modular design, code reusability, and API definition, need to be used as much as possible. In this work, we describe the software architecture developed for Walk-Man, a robot participant at the Darpa Robotics Challenge. The challenge required the robot to execute many different tasks, such as walking, driving a car, and manipulating objects. These tasks need to be solved by robotics specialists in their corresponding research field, such as humanoid walking, motion planning, or object manipulation. The proposed architecture was developed in 10 months, provided boilerplate code for most of the functionalities required to control a humanoid robot and allowed robotics researchers to produce their control modules for DRC tasks in a short time. Additional capabilities of the architecture include firmware and hardware management, mixing of different middlewares, unreliable network management, and operator control station GUI. All the source code related to the architecture and some control modules have been released as open source projects.

}, keywords = {Robotics}, doi = { http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2016.00025}, url = {http://bit.ly/2jAPke2}, author = {M. Ferrati and A Settimi and L. Muratore and N. G. Tsagarakis and L. Natale and L. Pallottino} } @conference {2129, title = {ASCARI: a component based simulator for distributed mobile robot systems}, booktitle = {Modelling \& Simulation for Autonomous Systems - MESAS2014}, volume = { Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 8906, 2014}, year = {2014}, pages = {152-163}, publisher = {Springer}, organization = {Springer}, address = {Rome, 5-6 May 2014}, keywords = {Embedded Control, Robotics}, author = {M. Ferrati and A Settimi and L. Pallottino} } @conference {2159, title = {Manipulation Framework for Compliant Humanoid COMAN: Application to a Valve Turning Task}, booktitle = {IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (HUMANOIDS 2014)}, year = {2014}, pages = {664 - 670}, publisher = {IEEE}, organization = {IEEE}, address = {Madrid, Spain, November 18 - 20}, abstract = {

With the purpose of achieving a desired interaction performance for our compliant humanoid robot (COMAN), in this paper we propose a semi-autonomous control framework and evaluate it experimentally in a valve turning setup. The control structure consists of various modules and interfaces to identify the valve, locate the robot in front of it and perform the manipulation. The manipulation module implements four motion primitives (Reach, Grasp, Rotate and Disengage) and realizes the corresponding desired impedance profile for each phase to accomplish the task. In this direction, to establish a stable and compliant contact between the valve and the robot hands, while being able to generate the sufficient rotational torques depending on the valve{\textquoteright}s friction, Rotate incorporates a novel dual-arm impedance control technique to plan and realize a task-appropriate impedance profile. Results of the implementation of the proposed control framework are firstly evaluated in simulation studies using Gazebo. Subsequent experimental results highlight the efficiency of the proposed impedance planning and control in generation of the required interaction forces to accomplish the task.

}, keywords = {Haptics, Robotics}, doi = {10.1109/HUMANOIDS.2014.7041434}, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=\&arnumber=7041434}, author = {A. Ajoudani and J. Lee and A. Rocchi and M. Ferrati and E. Mingo Hoffman and A Settimi and D. G. Caldwell and A. Bicchi and N G Tsagarakis} } @conference {2127, title = {A modular approach for remote operation of humanoid robots in search and rescue scenarios }, booktitle = {Modelling \& Simulation for Autonomous Systems - MESAS2014}, year = {2014}, address = {Rome, 5-6 May 2014}, keywords = {Robotics}, author = {A Settimi and C. Pavan and V. Varricchio and M. Ferrati and E. Mingo and A. Rocchi and K. Melo and N G Tsagarakis and A. Bicchi} } @conference {2160, title = {Upper-body Impedance Control with an Intuitive Stiffness Emulation for a Door Opening Task}, booktitle = {IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (HUMANOIDS 2014)}, year = {2014}, pages = {713 - 719}, publisher = {IEEE}, organization = {IEEE}, address = {Madrid, Spain, November 18 - 20}, abstract = {

The advent of humanoids has brought new challenges in the real-world application. As a part of ongoing efforts to foster functionality of the robot accommodating a real environment, this paper introduces a recent progress on a door opening task with our compliant humanoid, CoMan. We presents a task-prioritized impedance control framework for an upper body system that includes a dual-arm, a waist, two soft hands, and 3D camera. Aimed to create desired responses to open the door, a novel stiffness modulation method is proposed, incorporating a realtime optimization. As a preliminary experiment, a full door-opening scenario (approaching to the door and reaching, grasping, rotating and pulling the door handle) is demonstrated under a semi-autonomous operation with a pilot. The experimental result shows the effectiveness and efficacy of the proposed impedance control approach. Despite of uncertainties from sensory data, the door opening task is successfully achieved and safe and robust interaction is established without creating excessive forces.

}, keywords = {Robotics}, doi = {10.1109/HUMANOIDS.2014.7041441}, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=\&arnumber=7041441}, author = {J. Lee and A. Ajoudani and E. Mingo Hoffman and A. Rocchi and A Settimi and M. Ferrati and A. Bicchi and N G Tsagarakis and D. G. Caldwell} } @conference {2077, title = {Yarp Based Plugins for Gazebo Simulator}, booktitle = {2014 Modelling and Simulation for Autonomous Systems Workshop (MESAS)}, year = {2014}, address = {Roma, Italy, 5 -6 May 2014}, keywords = {Robotics}, author = {Mingo, E and Traversaro, S and Rocchi, A and M. Ferrati and A Settimi and Romano, F and Natale, L and A. Bicchi and Nori, F and N G Tsagarakis} } @conference {1758, title = {A time expanded network based algorithm for safe and efficient distributed multi-agent coordination}, booktitle = {IEEE Conference on Decision and Control}, year = {2013}, pages = {2805 - 2810}, address = {Florence, Italy}, keywords = {Robotics}, author = {M. Ferrati and L. Pallottino} }