PhD Thesis Defense
Low-Cost Multimodal Sensing and Dexterity for Deformable Object Manipulation
Abstract: To integrate robots seamlessly into daily life, they must be able to handle a variety of tasks in diverse environments, like cooking in restaurants or tidying up around the house. Many of the items in these environments are deformable such as fruits or bed sheets and a certain level of dexterity is necessary to [...]
Mass-Constrained Robotic Climbing on Irregular Terrain
Abstract: Climbing robots can operate in steep and unstructured environments that are inaccessible to other ground robots, with applications ranging from the inspection of artificial structures on Earth to the exploration of natural terrain features throughout the solar system. Climbing robots for planetary exploration face many challenges to deployment, including mass restrictions, irregular surface features, [...]
Informative Path Planning Toward Autonomous Real-World Applications
Abstract: Gathering information from the physical world is critical for applications such as scientific research, environmental monitoring, search and rescue, defense, and disaster response. Autonomous robots provide significant advantages for information gathering, particularly in situations where human access is constrained, hazardous, or impractical. By leveraging intelligent algorithms, these robots can efficiently collect data, enhancing decision-making [...]