Researchers at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Texas A&M University, and Carnegie Mellon University recently carried out a research project aimed at enabling simultaneous localization and planning (SLAP) capabilities in autonomous robots. Their paper, published in IEEE Transactions on Robotics, presents a dynamic replanning scheme in belief space, which could be particularly useful for robots operating […]
Robots Could Optimize Hyper-Parameters Autonomously
Researchers at Ecole Centrale de Lyon have recently devised a new developmental framework inspired by the long-term memory and reasoning mechanisms of humans. This framework, outlined in a paper presented at IEEE ICDL-Epirob in Tokyo and pre-published on arXiv, allows robots to autonomously optimize hyper-parameters tuned from any action and/or vision module, which are treated […]
Working Toward Partner-Aware Humanoid Robot Control
Researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) have recently proposed a coupled-dynamics formalism and a new approach for exploiting helpful interactions with humanoid robots. Their paper, which was pre-published on arXiv, also presents a number of task-based, partner-aware techniques for humanoid robot control. “Robots are evolving at a rapid pace, and many recent developments are […]
Reinforcement Learning to Achieve Human-Like Control in Robots
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have developed a hierarchical framework based on deep reinforcement learning (RL) that can acquire a variety of strategies for humanoid balance control. Their framework, outlined in a paper pre-published on arXiv and presented at the 2017 International Conference on Humanoid Robotics, could perform far more human-like balancing behaviors than […]
Real-Time Localization and Mapping Tools for Robotics, VR and AR
A large group of researchers at Imperial College London, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Manchester, and Stanford University have recently collaborated on a project exploring the application of real-time localization and mapping tools for robotics, autonomous vehicles, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Their paper, published on arXiv and Proceedings of the IEEE, outlines the […]