Learning Task Parameterised Dynamical Systems with Gaussian Process Regression and Classification

Recent research has shown that a Learning from Demonstration (LfD) approach is useful for teaching robots flexible skills efficiently, and it opens the possibility for non-expert users to program these skills. When learning from demonstration data, learning frameworks should learn representations that are flexible and can generalize to unseen...

Failure Recovery with Ontologically Generated Behaviour Trees

Behaviour trees (BTs) serve as a powerful hierarchical structure for task execution, simplifying complex tasks but posing challenges in their manual design. The automatic generation of BTs addresses this concern, yet often lacks robust failure recovery options. This study presents Failure Recovery with Ontologically Generated Behaviour Trees ...

From Points to Faces: An automotive lidar-based face recognition system

Face recognition using lidar presents challenges arising from high dimensionality and data sparsity, especially at longer distances. This paper proposes a novel approach for face recognition via automotive lidar. The approach leverages a combination of deep learning and point cloud processing techniques. After identification of the facial point...

Learning from Few Demonstrations with Frame-Weighted Motion Generation

Learning from Demonstration (LfD) aims to learn versatile skills from human demonstrations. The field has been gaining popularity since it facilitates transferring knowledge to robots without requiring much expert knowledge. During task executions, the robot motion is usually influenced by constraints imposed by environments. In light of this,...

Incremental Adaptation of Behaviour Trees for Applications in Learning from Demonstration Frameworks

This thesis proposes the novel Behaviour Tree Update Framework (BTUF) for the initial construction and continuous incremental adaptation of Behaviour Trees (BTs) for applications in Learning from Demonstration (LfD) frameworks to create complex robot behaviours associated with Activities of Daily Living (ADL) without requiring the user to have a...

Orbital HMD: An Intuitive Visual Interface for Robot Teleoperation: With Robotic Welding as Use Case

Robotic teleoperation has gained popularity in various applications, including the nuclear industry, where the experience and intelligence of a human operator is necessary for making complex decisions that are beyond the autonomy of robots. Human-robot interfaces that help strengthen an operator’s situational awareness without inducing excessive...

Kinematics analysis of an end-effector-based orthosis for the lower limb allowing for adduction and flexion

Rehabilitation robotics is a rapidly growing field in the engineering industry. Due to the high repeatability of motion, high therapy costs, and lack of proper quantitative assessment of patient status and progress, rehabilitation centers could benefit from the introduction of robotics. One such device already commercially available is the...

Interactive Imitation Learning for Force control: Position And Stiffness Teaching with Interactive Learning

To generalize the use of robotics, there are a few hurdles still to take. One of these hurdles is the programming of the robots. Most robots on the market today employ position control, with a set of controller parameters tuned by an expert. This programming is quite expensive, only suited for a single task, in a single configuration, and not...

Assistive Shopping Trolley Controller Design for the Elderly

We are living in an aging society, which is putting an increasingly heavy strain on our healthcare system. As people age many become less mobile, leading to loneliness and a deteriorating health. Subsequently elderly often end up in nursing homes; an experience which is unpleasant as well as expensive. Assisting the elderly with robotic devices...

An IMU tracking algorithm for 3D motion reconstruction using OpenSim dynamical models: Implementation on a robot manipulator

Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)-based motion capture has gained interest over the years due to its potential to measure human movement in the clinic and on the sports field at low cost. Still, IMU-based motion reconstruction remains a challenging task as these IMU measurements are corrupted by noise and bias. There have been many filtering and...

Simulation of equinus gait and effects of ankle stiffness compensation with a neuromusculoskeletal model

Introduction: Pes equinus with increased ankle joint stiffness is a common impairment in stroke and Cerebral Palsy (CP) patients with structural and/or neural deficits of the ankle muscles. Equinus gait is characterized by toe-strike, abnormal ankle plantarflexion and decreased ankle range of motion (ROM). A new ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) with...

A Multi-modal Feedback System for Ergonomic Pose Estimation

This study proposes the creation of a multi-modal feedback system to guide humans towards ergonomic poses. A number of studies have tried to come up with methods where subjects are alerted upon crossing biomechanical or ergonomic thresholds while doing a task but not many have tried to successfully and efficiently guide users to ergonomic...

Optimal Tracking of the Fast and Slow States of Sensorimotor Adaptation for Rehabilitation Robotics

Robotic assistance for rehabilitation has benefited from the use of models for motor adaptation. The assist-as-needed paradigm for rehabilitation robotics was based on a single-state model of human adaptation to a neurological handicap. Recent studies have shown that human motor adaptation consists of two or more parallel adaptation processes. A...

Interactive Learning in State-space: Enabling robots to learn from non-expert humans

Imitation Learning is a technique that enables programming the behavior of agents through demonstration, as opposed to manually engineering behavior. However, Imitation Learning methods require demonstration data (in the form of state-action labels) and in many scenarios, the demonstrations can be expensive to obtain or too complex for a...

Monitoring selectively directed auditory attention using physiological synchrony in EEG, electrodermal activity and heart rate

Monitoring selectively directed auditory attention in groups can be helpful in a range of contexts, such as in education. In real-world settings, selectively directed attention cannot be monitored by relating physiological signals to known event markers. Determining the similarity of physiological responses across individuals in a group (i.e.,...

Tensegrity Full Body Control: An Inequality Constrained Optimization Approach

Tensegrity is a structural form that is defined as a set of rigid elements suspended in a net of continuous tension. This structure shows potential for compliance, impact tolerance and mechanical robustness. However, its non-linear coupled dynamics and often complex geometry require advanced control strategies. An actuator reference planning...