forceful milli-robot teams
TRANSCRIPT
Embodied Dexterity Group
Forceful milli-robot teamson varied natural terrains
Hannah StuartAssistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering
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Embodied Dexterity Group2
Michael Abbott Jadesola Aderibigbe Cyndia Cao Erin Chang
Yuri Gloumakov Tae Myung Huh Jungpyo Lee Sebastian Lee
Monica Li Drew McPherson Justin Page Juan Romero
Wilson Torres Laura Treers
NASA funding & collaboration:
Early Career Faculty (ECF)
Collab.: Steven Jorgensen
80NSSC21K0069 (Huh/Aderibigbe/Page)
Space Technology Research Fellowship
Collab.: Colin Creager, Christopher Yahnker
80NSSC19K1166 (Li)
80NSSC19K1167 (Cao)
(Treers)
Embodied Dexterity Group
Modeling contact for robotics design
Embodied AgentContact
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Sand dune sliding over fractured bedrock
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona (2015)
A permanently shadowed lunar crater. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center
An artist's concept of the Axel rover rappelling into a lunar pit. (Courtesy NASA / JPL-Caltech ). Smithsonian Magazine.
Embodied Dexterity Group
Millirobot ensemble
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Velociroach
Fearing lab, UCB
Estrada, Matthew A., et al. "Forceful manipulation with
micro air vehicles." Science Robotics 3.23 (2018).
Embodied Dexterity Group
➔ What’s at the other side of the
rope, and can we rely on it?
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An artist's concept of the Axel rover rappelling into a lunar pit. (Courtesy NASA / JPL-Caltech ). Smithsonian Magazine.
Mumm, Erik, et al. "Planetary cliff descent
using cooperative robots." Autonomous
Robots 16.3 (2004): 259-272.
Kitai, Shinya, at al. "The proposal of
swarm type wall climbing robot system"
Anchor Climber"." 2005 IEEE/RSJ IROS.
Embodied Dexterity Group
Millirobot ensemble
Significant existing work on
attached to rocky surfaces
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Asbeck, Alan T., et al. The International Journal of Robotics Research 25.12 (2006): 1165-1179.
LEMUR
JPL Robotic Microspines
IEEE Spectrum
Embodied Dexterity Group
Millirobot ensembleRelatively less work on the
design of sand anchors for
millirobotic systems
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Naclerio, et al. IEEE/RSJ
International Conference on
Intelligent Robots and
Systems (IROS). 2018.
Fernandez and Mazumdar. IEEE
Robotics and Automation
Letters 6.2 (2021): 1232-1239.
Embodied Dexterity Group
Millirobot ensemble
➔ 2 pronged approach
◆ Interact better to sand, with
design simulation tools
◆ Distribute agents to harness
the environment
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Embodied Dexterity Group
Millirobot ensemble
➔ 2 pronged approach
◆ Interact better to sand, with
design simulation tools
◆ Distribute agents to harness
the environment
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Embodied Dexterity Group
Discrete Element Method (DEM)
Material Point Method (MPM)
Resistive Force Theory (RFT)
Hybrid DEM/MPM
Most robust Least robust
~Days-weeks ~milliseconds
(simulation time)
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A range of modeling methods
Photo: Granular Materials Lab, UC Davis, Prof. Alejandro Martinez
Y. Yue, et al. ACM Trans. Graph. 37, 6, Article 283 (November 2018)
C. Li, T. Zhang, and D. I. Goldman, Science, vol. 339, no.6126, pp. 1408–1412, 2013.
Embodied Dexterity Group
➔ First-order approximation for intrusion forces
➔ Relies on experimentally characterized scaling factors
➔ Only characterized in 2D or 2.5D
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C. Li, T. Zhang, and D. I. Goldman, “A Terradynamics of Legged Locomotion on Granular Media,” Science, vol. 339, no.6126, pp. 1408–1412, 2013.Shrivastava, Siddharth, et al. "Material remodeling and unconventional gaits facilitate locomotion of a robophysical rover over granular terrain." Science Robotics 5.42 (2020).
2D 2.5D
Granular Resistive Force Theory (RFT)
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Plate penetrometry characterization
Element j on a discretized body
Forces summed over all elements
Estimate resultant throughout motions
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T. Zhang and D. I. Goldman, Physics of Fluids, vol. 27, no. 1, p. 019901, 2015.
Treers, Laura K., Cyndia Cao, and Hannah S. Stuart. "Granular Resistive Force Theory Implementation for Three-Dimensional Trajectories." IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters 6.2 (2021): 1887-1894.
Granular Resistive Force Theory (RFT)➔ First-order approximation for intrusion forces
➔ Relies on experimentally characterized scaling factors
➔ 3D RFT open source coming soon at lab GitHub!
Embodied Dexterity Group
Example: bioinspired burrowing
Treers, Laura K., Cyndia Cao, and Hannah S. Stuart. "Granular Resistive Force Theory Implementation for Three-Dimensional Trajectories." IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters 6.2 (2021): 1887-1894.
Embodied Dexterity Group
Millirobot ensemble
➔ 2 pronged approach
◆ Interact better to sand, with
design simulation tools
◆ Distribute agents to
harness the environment
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Embodied Dexterity Group
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Granular media
Strong web of tethers
Photo by Scott Moreland
Overcoming larger slopesNon-electrical
Tactile sensing