Mathieu Poirier

Whole-body motion planning for pivoting based manipulation by humanoids

This paper emphasizes on the capacity of a humanoid robot to perform tasks that are difficult for other types of robots. It deals with manipulation of bulky objects. Such tasks require complicated manipulations involving the whole-body and line coordination between legs, arms and torso motions. We introduce here a whole-body motion planner that allows a humanoid robot to autonomously plan a pivoting strategy that accounts for the various constraints: collision avoidance, legs-arms coordination and stability control. Based on a previous result by the authors [1] proving the small-time controllability of a pivoting system, the planner is proven to inherit from the probabilistic completeness of the sampling- based motion planning method it is built on. The geometric and kinematic capacity of the proposed planner is mainly demonstrated through simulations and experiments.

Pivoting based manipulation by a humanoid robot

In this paper we address whole-body manipulation of bulky objects by a humanoid robot. We adopt a “pivoting” manipulation method that allows the humanoid to displace an object without lifting, but by the support of the ground contact. First, the small-time controllability of pivoting is demonstrated. On its basis, an algorithm for collision-free pivoting motion planning is established taking into account the naturalness of motion as nonholonomic constraints. Finally, we present a whole-body motion generation method by a humanoid robot, which is verified by experiments.

“Give me the purple ball” - he said to HRP-2 N.14

This paper reports current experiments conducted on HRP-2 based research on robot autonomy. The contribution of the paper is not focused on a specific area but its objective is to highlight the critical issues that had to be solved to allow the humanoid robot HRP-2 to understand and execute the order ldquogive me the purple ballrdquo in an autonomous way. Such an experiment requires: simple object recognition and localization, motion planning and control, natural spoken language supervision, simple action supervisor and control architecture.

Regrasp planning for pivoting manipulation by a humanoid robot

A method of regrasp planning for humanoid robot manipulation is proposed. We adopt pivoting manipulation for the humanoid robot to move a bulky object without lifting in a stable and dexterous manner. In order to carry the object to a desired place, the humanoid should sometimes move through narrow areas surrounded by obstacles. We propose a roadmap multiplexing planning to allow the robot to leave the object near narrow places and to regrasp it from another position to continue carrying. We utilize visibility probabilistic roadmap (PRM) method as a preprocessing to capture the critical configurations for regrasping. Then a diffusion method is employed to plan the overall manipulation path including regrasping. The proposed method is verified through planning simulation including whole-body motions.

Planning Whole-body Humanoid Locomotion, Reaching, and Manipulation

In this chapter we address the planning problem of whole-body motions by humanoid robots. The approach presented benefits from two cutting edge recent advancements in robotics: powerful probabilistic geometric and kinematic motion planning and advanced dynamic motion control for humanoids. First, we introduce a two-stage approach that combines these two techniques for collision-free simultaneous locomotion and upper-body task. Then a whole-body motion generationmethod is presented for reaching, including steps based on generalized inverse kinematics. The third example is planning of whole-body manipulation of a large object by “pivoting”, by making use of the precedent results. Finally, an integrated experiment is shown in which the humanoid robot interacts with its environment through perception. The humanoid robot platform HRP-2 is used as the platform to validate the results.

Pivoting based manipulation by humanoids: a controllability analysis

Pivoting manipulation has such advantages as dexterity and safety over other methods to move bulky or heavy objects. In this paper we aim to show that a polyhedral object can be displaced to arbitrary position and orientation on a plane (i.e. such a pivoting system is controllable). More than that we show it is small time controllable, i.e. the reachable space from a starting point contains always a neighbor no matter how cluttered the environment is. As a consequence of this analysis, we propose a steering method to plan a manipulation path to be performed by a humanoid robot: first we use a classical nonholonomic path planner that accounts for the robot motion constraints, and then we transform that path into a sequence of pivoting operations. While the feasibility of elementary pivoting tasks has been already experienced by the humanoid robot HRP-2, we present here the very first simulations of the plans generated by our steering method.

Vizir: A Domain-Specific Graphical Language for Authoring and Operating Airport Automations

Automation is one of the key solutions proposed and adopted by international Air Transport research programs to meet the challenges of increasing air traffic. For automation to be safe and usable, it needs to be suitable to the activity it supports, both when authoring it and when operating it. Here we present Vizir, a Domain-Specific Graphical Language and an Environment for authoring and operating airport automations. We used a participatory-design process with Air Traffic Controllers to gather requirements for Vizir and to design its features. Vizir combines visual interaction-oriented programming constructs with activity-related geographic areas and events. Vizir offers explicit human-control constructs, graphical substrates and means to scale-up with multiple automations. We propose a set of guidelines to inspire designers of similar usable hybrid human-automation systems.

Using the djnn framework to create and validate interactive components iteratively

Using a real life scenario of aircraft cockpit design, we illustrate how the model-based architecture of the djnn programming framework allows to combine the multidisciplinary and iterative processes of user interface design with the requirements of industrial system development. Treating software programs as hierarchies of interactive components allows to delegate the production of components to multiple actors, each using the tools of their trade. Components can be exchanged in various formats, refined without modifying their surroundings, and undergo automated property verifications before being integrated.