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Zhu, J. (author), Gienger, Michael (author), Franzese, G. (author), Kober, J. (author)Developing physically assistive robots capable of dressing assistance has the potential to significantly improve the lives of the elderly and disabled population. However, most robotics dressing strategies considered a single robot only, which greatly limited the performance of the dressing assistance. In fact, healthcare professionals...journal article 2024
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Wu, D. (author), Zhang, R. (author), Pore, Ameya (author), Ha, Xuan Thao (author), Li, Z. (author), Herrera, Fernando (author), Kowalczyk, Wojtek (author), De Momi, Elena (author), Dankelman, J. (author), Kober, J. (author)Minimally Invasive Procedures (MIPs) emerged as an alternative to more invasive surgical approaches, offering patient benefits such as smaller incisions, less pain, and shorter hospital stay. In one class of MIPs, where natural body lumens or small incisions are used to access deeper anatomical locations, Flexible Surgical and Interventional...review 2024
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Avaei, S. (author), van der Spaa, L.F. (author), Peternel, L. (author), Kober, J. (author)Humans often demonstrate diverse behaviors due to their personal preferences, for instance, related to their individual execution style or personal margin for safety. In this paper, we consider the problem of integrating both path and velocity preferences into trajectory planning for robotic manipulators. We first learn reward functions that...journal article 2023
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van Riet, T.C.T. (author), de Graaf, W.M. (author), de Lange, Jan (author), Kober, J. (author)Being one of the oldest en most frequently performed invasive procedures; the lack of scientific progress of tooth removal procedures is impressive. This has most likely to do with technical limitations in measuring different aspects of these keyhole procedures. The goal of this study is to accurately capture the full range of motions during...journal article 2023
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Robust Jumping with an Articulated Soft Quadruped via Trajectory Optimization and Iterative LearningDing, J. (author), Sels, Mees A.van Loben (author), Angelini, Franco (author), Kober, J. (author), Della Santina, C. (author)Quadrupeds deployed in real-world scenarios need to be robust to unmodelled dynamic effects. In this work, we aim to increase the robustness of quadrupedal periodic forward jumping (i.e., pronking) by unifying cutting-edge model-based trajectory optimization and iterative learning control. Using a reduced-order soft anchor model, the...journal article 2023
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Khaled Mustafa, K.A. (author), de Groot, O.M. (author), Wang, X. (author), Kober, J. (author), Alonso-Mora, J. (author)Balancing safety and efficiency when planning in crowded scenarios with uncertain dynamics is challenging where it is imperative to accomplish the robot's mission without incurring any safety violations. Typically, chance constraints are incorporated into the planning problem to provide probabilistic safety guarantees by imposing an upper bound...conference paper 2023
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Pérez-Dattari, Rodrigo (author), Kober, J. (author)Learning from humans allows nonexperts to program robots with ease, lowering the resources required to build complex robotic solutions. Nevertheless, such data-driven approaches often lack the ability to provide guarantees regarding their learned behaviors, which is critical for avoiding failures and/or accidents. In this work, we focus on...journal article 2023
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Schumann, J.F. (author), Srinivasan, Aravinda R. (author), Kober, J. (author), Markkula, Gustav (author), Zgonnikov, A. (author)The development of automated vehicles has the potential to revolutionize transportation, but they are currently unable to ensure a safe and time-efficient driving style. Reliable models predicting human behavior are essential for overcoming this issue. While data-driven models are commonly used to this end, they can be vulnerable in safety...conference paper 2023
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Celemin, Carlos (author), Kober, J. (author)In order to deploy robots that could be adapted by non-expert users, interactive imitation learning (IIL) methods must be flexible regarding the interaction preferences of the teacher and avoid assumptions of perfect teachers (oracles), while considering they make mistakes influenced by diverse human factors. In this work, we propose an IIL...journal article 2023
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Drijver, Eveline (author), Pérez-Dattari, Rodrigo (author), Kober, J. (author), Della Santina, C. (author), Ajanović, Z. (author)Intelligent manufacturing is becoming increasingly important due to the growing demand for maximizing productivity and flexibility while minimizing waste and lead times. This work investigates automated secondary robotic food packaging solutions that transfer food products from the conveyor belt into containers. A major problem in these...conference paper 2023
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Schumann, J.F. (author), Kober, J. (author), Zgonnikov, A. (author)Autonomous vehicles currently suffer from a time-inefficient driving style caused by uncertainty about human behavior in traffic interactions. Accurate and reliable prediction models enabling more efficient trajectory planning could make autonomous vehicles more assertive in such interactions. However, the evaluation of such models is...journal article 2023
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van der Spaa, L.F. (author), Franzese, G. (author), Kober, J. (author), Gienger, Michael (author)In order to make the coexistence between humans and robots a reality, we must understand how they may cooperate more effectively. Modern robots, empowered with reliable controls and advanced machine learning reasoning can face this challenge. In this article, we presented a Disagreement- Aware Variable Impedance (DAVI) Controller, where the...conference paper 2022
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Zhu, J. (author), Cherubini, Andrea (author), Dune, Claire (author), Navarro-Alarcon, David (author), Alambeigi, Farshid (author), Berenson, Dmitry (author), Ficuciello, Fanny (author), Harada, Kensuke (author), Kober, J. (author), Yuan, Wenzhen (author)Deformable object manipulation (DOM) is an emerging research problem in robotics. The ability to manipulate deformable objects endows robots with higher autonomy and promises new applications in the industrial, services, and health-care sectors. However, compared to rigid object manipulation, the manipulation of deformable objects is...journal article 2022
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D'Elia, E. (author), Mouret, J. -B. (author), Kober, J. (author), Ivaldi, S. (author)Designing controllers for complex robots such as humanoids is not an easy task. Often, researchers hand-tune controllers, but this is a time-consuming approach that yields a single controller which cannot generalize well to varied tasks. This work presents a method which uses the NSGA-II multi-objective optimization algorithm with various...conference paper 2022
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de Graaf, W.M. (author), van Riet, T.C.T. (author), de Lange, J. (author), Kober, J. (author)Surprisingly little is known about tooth removal procedures. This might be due to the difficulty of gaining reliable data on these procedures. To improve our understanding of these procedures, machine learning techniques were used to design a multiclass classification model of tooth removal based on force, torque, and movement data recorded...journal article 2022
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Beuling, M.G. (author), van Riet, T.C.T. (author), van Frankenhuyzen, J. (author), van Antwerpen, R. (author), de Blocq van Scheltinga, S. (author), Dourleijn, A.H.H. (author), Ireiz, D. (author), Streefkerk, S. (author), van Zanten, J.C. (author), de Lange, Jan (author), Kober, J. (author), Dodou, D. (author)The need for a training modality for tooth extraction procedures is increasing, as dental students do not feel properly trained. In this study, a prototype of a training setup is designed, in which extraction procedures can be performed on jaw models and cadaveric jaws. The prototype was designed in a way that it can give real-time feedback on...conference paper 2022
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Pérez-Dattari, Rodrigo (author), Ferreira de Brito, B.F. (author), de Groot, O.M. (author), Kober, J. (author), Alonso-Mora, J. (author)The successful integration of autonomous robots in real-world environments strongly depends on their ability to reason from context and take socially acceptable actions. Current autonomous navigation systems mainly rely on geometric information and hard-coded rules to induce safe and socially compliant behaviors. Yet, in unstructured urban...journal article 2022
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Mészáros, A. (author), Franzese, G. (author), Kober, J. (author)This work investigates how the intricate task of a continuous pick & place (P&P) motion may be learned from humans based on demonstrations and corrections. Due to the complexity of the task, these demonstrations are often slow and even slightly flawed, particularly at moments when multiple aspects (i.e., end-effector movement,...journal article 2022
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Passalis, N. (author), Pedrazzi, S. (author), Babuska, R. (author), Burgard, W. (author), Ferro, F. (author), Gabbouj, M. (author), Kayacan, E. (author), Kober, J. (author), Pieters, RRGM (author), Valada, A. (author)Existing Deep Learning (DL) frameworks typically do not provide ready-to-use solutions for robotics, where very specific learning, reasoning, and embodiment problems exist. Their relatively steep learning curve and the different methodologies employed by DL compared to traditional approaches, along with the high complexity of DL models, which...conference paper 2022
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Zhu, J. (author), Gienger, Michael (author), Kober, J. (author)Moving away from repetitive tasks, robots nowadays demand versatile skills that adapt to different situations. Task-parameterized learning improves the generalization of motion policies by encoding relevant contextual information in the task parameters, hence enabling flexible task executions. However, training such a policy often requires...journal article 2022