Learning Multi-Modal Navigation in Unstructured Environments

Abstract: A robot that operates efficiently in a team with humans in an unstructured outdoor environment must translate commands into actions from a modality intuitive to its operator. The robot must be able to perceive the world as humans do so that the actions taken by the robot reflect the nuances of natural language and [...]

Lessons Learned from Creating Low-Cost Dexterous Soft Robot Hands

NSH 4305

Abstract: Soft robot hands have shown promising results when it comes to dexterous grasping and manipulation. Compared to their rigid counterparts, soft hands can be manufactured for a fraction of the cost and offer robustness to uncertainty due to their inherent compliance. Unfortunately, the design and fabrication of soft robot hands is still a time-consuming [...]

Modern Trajectory Forecasting Methods Lack Social Awareness

NSH 4305

Abstract: We present a thorough evaluation and analysis of state-of-the-art (SOTA) human trajectory forecasting methods with respect to metrics for safe and socially-aware prediction, e.g., collision rate, in addition to traditional displacement metrics, e.g., average displacement error. First, we introduce a system for trajectory classification which is used to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of [...]