Jianwei Zhang - Böcker

Tactile Sensing, Skill Learning and Robotic Dexterous Manipulation focuses on cross-disciplinary lines of research and groundbreaking research ideas in three research lines: tactile sensing, skill learning and dexterous control. The book introduces recent work about human dexterous skill representation and learning, along with discussions of tactile sensing and its applications on unknown objects' property recognition and reconstruction. Sections also introduce the adaptive control schema and its learning by imitation and exploration. Other chapters describe the fundamental part of relevant research, paying attention to the connection among different fields and showing the state-of-the-art in related branches.

The book summarizes the different approaches and discusses the pros and cons of each. Chapters not only describe the research but also include basic knowledge that can help readers understand the proposed work, making it an excellent resource for researchers and professionals who work in the robotics industry, haptics and in machine learning.

Provides a review of tactile perception and the latest advances in the use of robotic dexterous manipulation Presents the most detailed work on synthesizing intelligent tactile perception, skill learning and adaptive control Introduces recent work on human's dexterous skill representation and learning and the adaptive control schema and its learning by imitation and exploration Reveals and illustrates how robots can improve dexterity by modern tactile sensing, interactive perception, learning and adaptive control approaches

In the last decades robots are expected to be of increasing intelligence to deal with a large range of tasks. Especially, robots are supposed to be able to learn manipulation skills from humans. To this end, a number of learning algorithms and techniques have been developed and successfully implemented for various robotic tasks. Among these methods, learning from demonstrations (LfD) enables robots to effectively and efficiently acquire skills by learning from human demonstrators, such that a robot can be quickly programmed to perform a new task.This book introduces recent results on the development of advanced LfD-based learning and control approaches to improve the robot dexterous manipulation. First, there's an introduction to the simulation tools and robot platforms used in the authors' research. In order to enable a robot learning of human-like adaptive skills, the book explains how to transfer a human user’s arm variable stiffness to the robot, based on the online estimation from the muscle electromyography (EMG). Next, the motion and impedance profiles can be both modelled by dynamical movement primitives such that both of them can be planned and generalized for new tasks. Furthermore, the book introduces how to learn the correlation between signals collected from demonstration, i.e., motion trajectory, stiffness profile estimated from EMG and interaction force, using statistical models such as hidden semi-Markov model and Gaussian Mixture Regression. Several widely used human-robot interaction interfaces (such as motion capture-based teleoperation) are presented, which allow a human user to interact with a robot and transfer movements to it in both simulation and real-word environments. Finally, improved performance of robot manipulation resulted from neural network enhanced control strategies is presented. A large number of examples of simulation and experiments of daily life tasks are included in this book to facilitate better understanding of the readers.

In the last decades robots are expected to be of increasing intelligence to deal with a large range of tasks. Especially, robots are supposed to be able to learn manipulation skills from humans. To this end, a number of learning algorithms and techniques have been developed and successfully implemented for various robotic tasks. Among these methods, learning from demonstrations (LfD) enables robots to effectively and efficiently acquire skills by learning from human demonstrators, such that a robot can be quickly programmed to perform a new task.This book introduces recent results on the development of advanced LfD-based learning and control approaches to improve the robot dexterous manipulation. First, there's an introduction to the simulation tools and robot platforms used in the authors' research. In order to enable a robot learning of human-like adaptive skills, the book explains how to transfer a human user’s arm variable stiffness to the robot, based on the online estimation from the muscle electromyography (EMG). Next, the motion and impedance profiles can be both modelled by dynamical movement primitives such that both of them can be planned and generalized for new tasks. Furthermore, the book introduces how to learn the correlation between signals collected from demonstration, i.e., motion trajectory, stiffness profile estimated from EMG and interaction force, using statistical models such as hidden semi-Markov model and Gaussian Mixture Regression. Several widely used human-robot interaction interfaces (such as motion capture-based teleoperation) are presented, which allow a human user to interact with a robot and transfer movements to it in both simulation and real-word environments. Finally, improved performance of robot manipulation resulted from neural network enhanced control strategies is presented. A large number of examples of simulation and experiments of daily life tasks are included in this book to facilitate better understanding of the readers.

This book is a comprehensive and in-depth research work that delves into the critical area of disaster prevention and mitigation strategies for infrastructure.

An active robot system can change its visual parameters in an intentional manner and perform its sensing actions purposefully. A general vision task thus can be performed in an efficient way by means of strategic control of the perception process. The controllable processes include 3D active sensing, sensor configuration and recalibration, automatic sensor placement, and 3D sensing. This book explores these important issues in studying for active visual perception.Vision sensors have limited fields of views and can only "see" a portion of a scene from a single viewpoint. To make the entire object visible, the sensor has to be moved from one place to another around the object to observe all features of interest. The sensor planning presented in this book describes an effective strategy to generate a sequence of viewing poses and sensor settings for optimally completing a perception task. Several methods are proposed to solve the problems in both model-based and nonmodel-based vision tasks. For model-based applications, the method involves determination of the optimal sensor placements and a shortest path through these viewpoints for automatic generation of a perception plan. A topology of viewpoints is achieved by a genetic algorithm in which a min-max criterion is used for evaluation. A shortest path is also determined by graph algorithms. For nonmodel-based applications, the method involves determination of the best next view and sensor settings. The trend surface is proposed as the cue to predict the unknown portion of an object or environment.The 11 chapters in Active Vision Planning draw on recent work in robot vision over ten years, particularly in the use of new concepts of active sensing, reconfiguration, recalibration, sensor model, sensing constraints, sensing evaluation, viewpoint decision, sensor placement graph, model based planning, path planning, planning for robot in unknown environment, dynamic 3D construction,surface prediction, etc. Implementation examples are also provided with theoretical methods for testing in a real robot system. With these optimal sensor planning strategies, this book will give the robot vision system the adaptability needed in many practical applications.

The five volume set CCIS 224-228 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International conference on Applied Informatics and Communication, ICAIC 2011, held in Xi'an, China in August 2011. The 446 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers cover a broad range of topics in computer science and interdisciplinary applications including control, hardware and software systems, neural computing, wireless networks, information systems, and image processing.

An active robot system can change its visual parameters in an intentional manner and perform its sensing actions purposefully. A general vision task thus can be performed in an efficient way by means of strategic control of the perception process. The controllable processes include 3D active sensing, sensor configuration and recalibration, automatic sensor placement, and 3D sensing. This book explores these important issues in studying for active visual perception.Vision sensors have limited fields of views and can only "see" a portion of a scene from a single viewpoint. To make the entire object visible, the sensor has to be moved from one place to another around the object to observe all features of interest. The sensor planning presented in this book describes an effective strategy to generate a sequence of viewing poses and sensor settings for optimally completing a perception task. Several methods are proposed to solve the problems in both model-based and nonmodel-based vision tasks. For model-based applications, the method involves determination of the optimal sensor placements and a shortest path through these viewpoints for automatic generation of a perception plan. A topology of viewpoints is achieved by a genetic algorithm in which a min-max criterion is used for evaluation. A shortest path is also determined by graph algorithms. For nonmodel-based applications, the method involves determination of the best next view and sensor settings. The trend surface is proposed as the cue to predict the unknown portion of an object or environment.The 11 chapters in Active Vision Planning draw on recent work in robot vision over ten years, particularly in the use of new concepts of active sensing, reconfiguration, recalibration, sensor model, sensing constraints, sensing evaluation, viewpoint decision, sensor placement graph, model based planning, path planning, planning for robot in unknown environment, dynamic 3D construction,surface prediction, etc. Implementation examples are also provided with theoretical methods for testing in a real robot system. With these optimal sensor planning strategies, this book will give the robot vision system the adaptability needed in many practical applications.

This book presents the innovative work done by a group of researchers focusing on classroom-based innovations to enable sustained knowledge building among students.

This book presents a bio-inspired hierarchical control scheme step by step toward developing limbless robots capable of 3D locomotion, fast reflex response, as well as sophisticated reaction to environmental stimuli.

This book presents a bio-inspired hierarchical control scheme step by step toward developing limbless robots capable of 3D locomotion, fast reflex response, as well as sophisticated reaction to environmental stimuli.