Research – Robust Manipulation

1 February 2012 – 31 July 2016

In order to make robots achieve robust, adaptive, effective and natural performance of everyday manipulation tasks, it is not feasible to expect that programmers can equip the robots with plan libraries that cover such open-ended task spectrum competently. ROBOHOW.Cog targets at enabling autonomous robots to perform expanding sets of human-scale tasks – both in human working and living environments. To this end, RoboHow.Cog will investigate a new approach to robot programming and control where knowledge for accomplishing tasks is semi-automatically acquired from instructions in the World Wide Web, from human instruction and from demonstration.

1 February 2017 – 30 June 2023

This project tackles the design of a 4-arms system with application to laparoscopic surgery. Currently, this task is performed by at least two people: the surgeon and one assistant who is manipulating the endoscope and the retractor. The envisioned 4-arms system would enable the surgeon to control all four instruments. This may increase synchrony in the movements and avoid ambiguity arising from miscommunication.

1 January 2020 – 31 March 2024

Europe is leading the market of torque-controlled robots. These robots can withstand physical interaction with the environment, including impacts, while providing accurate sensing and actuation capabilities. I.AM. leverages this technology and strengthens European leadership by endowing robots to exploit intentional impacts for manipulation. I.AM. focuses on impact aware manipulation in logistics, a new area of application for robotics which will grow exponentially in the coming years, due to socio-economical drivers such as booming of e-commerce and scarcity of labor

1 October 2017 – 31 March 2024

The SAHR project aims at gaining insights into the principles of human motor coordination mechanism, so as to guide the development of advanced robot learning and control algorithms.