In this paper, we present a new open source dynamic quadruped robot, PADWQ (pronounced pa-dook), which features 12 torque controlled quasi direct drive joints with high control bandwidth, as well as onboard depth sensor and GPU-equipped computer that allows for a highly dynamic locomotion over uncertain terrains. In contrast to other dynamic quadruped robots based on custom actuator and machined metal structural parts, the PADWQ is entirely built from off the shelf components and standard 3D printed plastic structural parts, which allows for a rapid distribution and duplication without the need for advanced machining process. To make sure that the plastic structural parts can withstand the stress of dynamic locomotion, we performed finite element analysis (FEA) on leg structural parts as well as a continuous walking test using the physical robot, both of which the robot has passed successfully. We hope this work to help a wide range of researchers and engineers that need an affordable, highly capable and easily customizable quadruped robot.

This paper presents an autonomous robotic assembly system for Soma cube blocks, which, after observing the individual blocks and their assembled shape, quickly plans and executes the assembly motion sequence that picks up each block and incrementally build the target shape. A multi stage planner is used to find the suitable assembly solutions, assembly sequences and grip sequences considering various constraints, and re-grasping is used when the block target pose is not directly realizable or the block pose is ambiguous. The suggested system is implemented for a commercial UR5e robotic arm and a novel two degrees of freedom (DOF) gripper capable of in-hand manipulation, which further speeds up the manipulation speed. It was experimentally validated through a public competitive demonstration, where the suggested system completed all assembly tasks reliably with outstanding performance.

Although the mobile manipulation capability is crucial for a service robot to perform physical work without human support, the long-term autonomous operation of such a mobile manipulation robot in a real environment is still a tremendously difficult task. In this paper, we present a modular, general purpose software framework for intelligent mobile manipulation robots that can interact with humans using complex human speech commands; navigate smoothly in tight indoor spaces; and finally detect and manipulate various household objects and pieces of furniture autonomously. The suggested software framework is designed to be easily transferred to different home service robots, which include the Toyota Human Support Robot (HSR) and our Modular Service Robot-1 (MSR-1) platforms. It has successfully been used to solve various home service tasks at the RoboCup@Home and World Robot Summit international service robot competitions with promising results.

This paper presents an autonomous grasping approach for complex-shaped objects using an anthropomorphic robotic hand. Although human-like robotic hands have a number of distinctive advantages, most of the current autonomous robotic pickup systems still use relatively simple gripper setups such as a two-finger gripper or even a suction gripper. The main difficulty of utilizing human-like robotic hands lies in the sheer complexity of the system; it is inherently tough to plan and control the motions of the high degree of freedom (DOF) system. Although data-driven approaches have been successfully used for motion planning of various robotic systems recently, it is hard to directly apply them to high-DOF systems due to the difficulty of acquiring training data. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for grasping complex-shaped objects using a high-DOF robotic manipulation system consisting of a seven-DOF manipulator and a four-fingered robotic hand with 16 DOFs. Human demonstration data are first acquired using a virtual reality controller with 6D pose tracking and individual capacitive finger sensors. Then, the 3D shape of the manipulation target object is reconstructed from multiple depth images recorded using the wrist-mounted RGBD camera. The grasping pose for the object is estimated using a residual neural network (ResNet), K-means clustering (KNN), and a point-set registration algorithm. Then, the manipulator moves to the grasping pose following the trajectory created by dynamic movement primitives (DMPs). Finally, the robot performs one of the object-specific grasping motions learned from human demonstration. The suggested system is evaluated by an official tester using five objects with promising results.

In recent years, the field of robotic portrait drawing has garnered considerable interest, as evidenced by the growing number of researchers focusing on either the speed or quality of the output drawing. However, the pursuit of either speed or quality alone has resulted in a trade-off between the two objectives. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a new approach that combines both objectives by leveraging advanced machine learning techniques and a variable line width Chinese calligraphy pen. Our proposed system emulates the human drawing process, which entails planning the sketch and creating it on the canvas, thus providing a realistic and high-quality output. One of the main challenges in portrait drawing is preserving the facial features, such as the eyes, mouth, nose, and hair, which are crucial for capturing the essence of a person. To overcome this challenge, we employ CycleGAN, a powerful technique that retains important facial details while transferring the visualized sketch onto the canvas. Moreover, we introduce the Drawing Motion Generation and Robot Motion Control Modules to transfer the visualized sketch onto a physical canvas. These modules enable our system to create high-quality portraits within seconds, surpassing existing methods in terms of both time efficiency and detail quality. Our proposed system was evaluated through extensive real-life experiments and showcased at the RoboWorld 2022 exhibition. During the exhibition, our system drew portraits of more than 40 visitors, yielding a survey outcome with a satisfaction rate of 95%. This result indicates the effectiveness of our approach in creating high-quality portraits that are not only visually pleasing but also accurate.