GUEST SPEAKER

Interaction in Robotics with a Combination of Vision, Tactile and Force Sensing

Prof. Angel P. del Pobil
Jaume-I University, Spain

Abstract

Human dexterity relies on the simultaneous processing of three perceptual modalities: vision, tactile and force. Existing robotic systems are still very far from humans in terms of their manipulation skills. This fact can be partly accounted for by a lack of integrated multimodal approaches to the problem. I present our research on the combination of vision, tactile and force sensing for manipulation with robotic hands, as part of our FPI approach the Framework for Physical Interaction, in which a grasp and a task are concurrently planned. A visual servoing loop is used to control the hand for task execution, which we combine with a tactile control signal, as well as an impedance force controller. The task can be performed even if a sensor is not available or provides inaccurate data. A number of experiments are reported for comparing the results of the integrated trimodal controller. Results show that it outperforms the bimodal or single-sensor approaches. In the experiments we use different real robots placed on real household environments. The talk will be based on my latest book titled Robot Physical Interaction through the combination of Vision, Tactile and Force Feedback: Applications to Assistive Robotics, to be published in the Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR) series, co-authored by Mario Prats and Pedro J. Sanz. This research was recipient of various awards, including the Georges Giralt European Award and the Robotdalen Scientific Award Honorary Mention.

Biography of the Guest Speaker

Angel P. del Pobil is Professor of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at Jaume I University (Spain), founder director of the UJI Robotic Intelligence Laboratory, and a WCU Visiting Professor at Sungkyungkwan University (Korea). He holds a B.S. in Physics (1986) and a Ph.D. in Engineering (1991), both from the University of Navarra. His Ph.D. Thesis was the winner of the National Award of the Spanish Royal Academy of Doctors. He has been Co-Chair of two Technical Committees of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, and he is Board member of EURON, the European Robotics Research Network, since 2001. He has been EURON Co-Chair for Research, and Vice President of the International Society of Applied Intelligence. He has over 200 refereed publications, including ten books. Prof. del Pobil was organizer of some 37 workshops and tutorials at ICRA, IROS, RSS, HRI and other major conferences. He was Program Co-Chair of the 11th International Conference on Industrial and Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, and General Chair of five editions of the IASTED International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing (2004-2008). He is Associate Editor for ICRA (2009-2011) and IROS (2007-2012) and has served on the program committees of over 100 international conferences. His research interests include: humanoid robots, service robotics, computer vision, sensor fusion, visually- guided grasping, robot perception, multimodal sensorimotor integration, robot physical and human interaction, robot learning, developmental robotics, and the interplay between neurobiology and robotics. Professor del Pobil has been invited speaker of 49 tutorials, plenary talks, and seminars in 14 countries. He serves as associate or guest editor for seven journals, and as expert for the European Commission and the National Science Foundation. He has supervised 14 Ph.D. thesis, including winner and finalists of international awards. He has been Principal Investigator of 28 research projects. Recent projects at the UJI Robotic Intelligence Lab funded by the European Commission include: GUARDIANS (Group of Unmanned Assistant Robots Deployed In Aggregative Navigation supported by Scent detection), EYESHOTS (Heterogeneous 3-D Perception Across Visual Fragments), and GRASP (Emergence of Cognitive Grasping through Emulation, Introspection, and Surprise).