IPAB Workshop-23/04/2020

Title: Modelling and control for robust physical interaction in extreme environments. Abstract: In this talk I will highlight our group’s recent efforts to confront robotics control challenges for tasks involving physical interaction and contact in extreme environments (e.g. in underground mines, contaminated nuclear sites, and offshore oil platforms). I will emphasise our work on model-based controllers, where a robot’s knowledge of physical forces may be exploited for predictive planning and robust interaction. In this light, I will present our new method for learning robot dynamics models online, which combines physics-based parametric models with unstructured non-parametric regression to achieve both accuracy and generalisability. However, when models go wrong, we need robust control frameworks to maintain stability. I will discuss our new method for energy-aware impedance control, which employs a fractal attractor and variable stiffness gains for guaranteed safe and stable interaction. I will show applications of our work for grasping, quadruped locomotion, teleoperation, and human-robot physical interaction.