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Humanoid Robotics Laboratory

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Autonomous Environment Manipulation to Assist Humanoid Locomotion

2014 , Levihn, Martin , Nishiwaki, Koichi , Kagami, Satoshi , Stilman, Mike

Legged robots have unique capabilities to traverse complex environments by stepping over and onto objects. Many footstep planners have been developed to take advantage of these capabilities. However, legged robots also have inherent constraints such as a maximum step height and distance. These constraints typically limit their reachable space, independent of footstep planning. Thus, we propose that robots such as humanoid robots that have manipulation capabilities should use them. A robot should autonomously modify its environment if necessary. We present a system that enabled a real robot to use a box to create itself a stair step or place a board on the ground to cross a gap, allowing it to reach its otherwise unreachable goal configuration.

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Planning in Constraint Space: Automated Design of Functional Structures

2013-05 , Erdogan, Can , Stilman, Mike

On the path to full autonomy, robotic agents have to learn how to manipulate their environments for their benefit. In particular, the ability to design structures that are functional in overcoming challenges is imperative. The problem of automated design of functional structures (ADFS) addresses the question of whether the objects in the environment can be placed in a useful configuration. In this work, we first make the observation that the ADFS problem represents a class of problems in high dimensional, continuous spaces that can be broken down into simpler subproblems with semantically meaningful actions. Next, we propose a framework where discrete actions that induce constraints can partition the solution space effectively. Subsequently, we solve the original class of problems by searching over the available actions, where the evaluation criteria for the search is the feasibility test of the accumulated constraints. We prove that with a sound feasibility test, our algorithm is complete. Additionally, we argue that a convexity requirement on the constraints leads to significant efficiency gains. Finally, we present successful results to the ADFS problem.

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Humanoid Robot Teleoperation for Tasks with Power Tools

2013-04 , O’Flaherty, Rowland , Vieira, Peter , Grey, M. X. , Oh, Paul , Bobick, Aaron F. , Egerstedt, Magnus B. , Stilman, Mike

This paper presents the implementation of inverse kinematics to achieve teleoperation of a physical humanoid robot platform. The humanoid platform will be used to compete in the DARPA Robot Challenge, which requires autonomous execution of various search and rescue tasks, such as cutting through walls, which is a very practical application to robotics. Using a closed-form kinematic solution and a basic feedback controller, our objective of executing simple tasks is realized via teleoperation. Joint limits and singularities are accounted for using the different cases in the kinematic solution; and a decision method is implemented to determine how to position the end-effector when the goal is outside the feasible workspace.

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Robust and Efficient Communication for Real-Time Multi-Process Robot Software

2012-11 , Dantam, Neil , Stilman, Mike

We present a new Interprocess Communication (IPC) mechanism and library. Ach is uniquely suited for coordinating drivers, controllers, and algorithms in complex robotic systems such as humanoid robots. Ach eliminates the Head-of-Line Blocking problem for applications that always require access to the newest message. Ach is efficient, robust, and formally verified. It has been tested and demonstrated on a variety of physical robotic systems, and we discuss the implementation on our humanoid robot Golem Krang. Finally, the source code for Ach is available under an Open Source permissive license.

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Foresight and Reconsideration in Hierarchical Planning and Execution

2013-11 , Levihn, Martin , Kaelbling, Leslie Pack , Lozano-Pérez, Tomás , Stilman, Mike

We present a hierarchical planning and execution architecture that maintains the computational efficiency of hierar- chical decomposition while improving optimality. It provides mech- anisms for monitoring the belief state during execution and per- forming selective replanning to repair poor choices and take advan- tage of new opportunities. It also provides mechanisms for looking ahead into future plans to avoid making short-sighted choices. The effectiveness of this architecture is shown through comparative experiments in simulation and demonstrated on a real PR2 robot.

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Path Planning with Uncertainty: Voronoi Uncertainty Fields

2013-05 , Ok, Kyel , Ansari, Sameer , Gallagher, Billy , Sica, William , Dellaert, Frank , Stilman, Mike

In this paper, a two-level path planning algorithm that deals with map uncertainty is proposed. The higher level planner uses modified generalized Voronoi diagrams to guarantee finding a connected path from the start to the goal if a collision-free path exists. The lower level planner considers uncertainty of the observed obstacles in the environment and assigns repulsive forces based on their distance to the robot and their positional uncertainty. The attractive forces from the Voronoi nodes and the repulsive forces from the uncertainty- biased potential fields form a hybrid planner we call Voronoi Uncertainty Fields (VUF). The proposed planner has two strong properties: (1) bias against uncertain obstacles, and (2) completeness. We analytically prove the properties and run simulations to validate our method in a forest-like environment.

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Multi-Process Control Software for HUBO2 Plus Robot

2013-04 , Grey, M .X. , Dantam, Neil , Lofaro, Daniel M. , Bobick, Aaron F. , Egerstedt, Magnus B. , Oh, Paul , Stilman, Mike

Humanoid robots require greater software reliability than traditional mechantronic systems if they are to perform useful tasks in typical human-oriented environments. This paper covers a software architecture which distributes the load of computation and control tasks over multiple processes, enabling fail-safes within the software. These fail-safes ensure that unexpected crashes or latency do not produce damaging behavior in the robot. The distribution also offers benefits for future software development by making the architecture modular and extensible. Utilizing a low-latency inter-process communication protocol (Ach), processes are able to communicate with high control frequencies. The key motivation of this software architecture is to provide a practical framework for safe and reliable humanoid robot software development. The authors test and verify this framework on a HUBO2 Plus humanoid robot.

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Correct Software Synthesis for Stable Speed-Controlled Robotic Walking

2013-06 , Dantam, Neil , Hereid, Ayonga , Ames, Aaron , Stilman, Mike

We present a software synthesis method for speed- controlled robot walking based on supervisory control of a context-free Motion Grammar. First, we use Human-Inspired control to identify parameters for fixed speed walking and for transitions between fixed speeds, guaranteeing dynamic stability. Next, we build a Motion Grammar representing the discrete- time control for this set of speeds. Then, we synthesize C code from this grammar and generate supervisors¹ online to achieve desired walking speeds, guaranteeing correctness of discrete computation. Finally, we demonstrate this approach on the Aldebaran NAO, showing stable walking transitions with dynamically selected speeds.

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Planning with Movable Obstacles in Continuous Environments with Uncertain Dynamics

2013-05 , Levihn, Martin , Scholz, Jonathan , Stilman, Mike

In this paper we present a decision theoretic planner for the problem of Navigation Among Movable Obstacles (NAMO) operating under conditions faced by real robotic systems. While planners for the NAMO domain exist, they typically assume a deterministic environment or rely on discretization of the configuration and action spaces, preventing their use in practice. In contrast, we propose a planner that operates in real-world conditions such as uncertainty about the parameters of workspace objects and continuous configuration and action (control) spaces. To achieve robust NAMO planning despite these conditions, we introduce a novel integration of Monte Carlo simulation with an abstract MDP construction. We present theoretical and empirical arguments for time complexity linear in the number of obstacles as well as a detailed implementation and examples from a dynamic simulation environment.

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Detecting Partially Occluded Objects via Segmentation and Validation

2013-01 , Levihn, Martin , Dutton, Matthew , Trevor, Alexander J. B. , Stilman, Mike

This paper presents a novel algorithm: Verfied Partial Object Detector (VPOD) for accurate detection of partially occluded objects such as furniture in 3D point clouds. VPOD is implemented and validated on real sensor data obtained by our robot. It extends Viewpoint Feature His- tograms (VFH), which classify unoccluded objects, to also classify partially occluded objects such as furniture that might be seen in typical office environments. To achieve this result, VPOD employs two strategies. First, object models are segmented and the object database is extended to include partial models. Second, once a matching partial object is detected, the complete object model is aligned back into the scene and verified for consistency with the point cloud data. Overall, our approach increases the number of objects found and substantially reduces false positives due to the verification process.

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