Frontiers in Robotics and AI最新文献

{"title":"Generative real-time planning for multi-robot contingencies using deep prior-guided whale optimization.","authors":"Xinyi Zhang, Xinqi Li, Wenbo Li","doi":"10.3389/frobt.2026.1955600","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2026.1955600","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Dynamic multi-robot coordination demands real-time resilience against stochastic disruptions, yet existing planning methodologies often falter under the computational burden of high-dimensional state transitions. To address this challenge, we present a generative real-time mission planning framework that integrates deep prior learning with adaptive evolutionary optimization.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>By employing a subtraction-average-based optimizer (SABO) to tune long short-term memory (LSTM) networks, we extract deep spatiotemporal priors that map discrete contingency events to continuous cost intervals, effectively compressing the feasible search space. Within this refined subspace, a guided whale optimization algorithm (GWOA), which is augmented by target-gap adaptive control and dimension-wise opposition learning, executes precise plan regeneration.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Validation across six distinct contingency scenarios, ranging from risk-induced termination to agent paralysis, demonstrates that the proposed approach outperforms traditional reallocation baselines, achieving rapid responsiveness and superior solution stability. The framework also demonstrates scalability in large-scale scenarios involving up to 1000 agents.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>These results demonstrate that integrating deep spatiotemporal prior learning with adaptive evolutionary optimization can effectively reduce the computational burden of mission replanning while maintaining responsiveness, stability, and scalability, providing a robust approach to resilient multi-robot management in unpredictable environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":47597,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Robotics and AI","volume":"13 ","pages":"1955600"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13630706/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149116671","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Preliminary usability evaluation of a teleoperated humanoid robot for pediatric waiting-room observation: clinical and technical professionals' perspectives.","authors":"Antea Scrocco, Samuele Bordini, Riccardo Kristen Simi, Elisa Matteucci, Elena Beani, Giovanni Cioni, Eugenia Conti, Maria Chiara Di Lieto, Giorgio Grioli, Antonio Bicchi, Giuseppina Sgandurra, Manuel Giuseppe Catalano","doi":"10.3389/frobt.2026.1943197","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2026.1943197","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The field of assistive and social robotics is increasingly being applied within pediatric medicine, where waiting rooms provide an interesting setting for conducting ecological behavioral observations. Yet, there is a dearth of studies investigating teleoperated humanoid robots in their capacity as tools for naturalistic observation in an unstructured environment, a use that requires a very high level of user-friendliness of the robot for non-specialist users. In this study, the humanoid robot Alter-Ego was evaluated as a telepresence avatar to support remote observation in the waiting room of a child neuropsychiatry clinic. As a preliminary step toward future clinical evaluation, the study was conducted without the direct involvement of pediatric patients and focused on the usability, perceived cognitive workload, and acceptability of the platform among 13 professionals with clinical and technical backgrounds. The results demonstrated acceptable system usability, with an overall mean System Usability Scale score of 71.3. Regarding cognitive workload, the NASA-TLX identified Mental Demand and Effort as the most demanding dimensions, while Frustration levels remained low. The Godspeed Questionnaire revealed a highly positive perception of the platform's Animacy and Likeability, alongside good scores for Perceived Safety and Perceived Intelligence. In exploratory correlation analyses, no significant correlations were found between prior virtual reality (VR) or gaming experience and any of the outcome measures considered. In conclusion, the findings suggest that the Alter-Ego platform may be a usable and acceptable teleoperated tool for clinical and technical professionals, providing a basis for future evaluation in pediatric clinical settings.</p>","PeriodicalId":47597,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Robotics and AI","volume":"13 ","pages":"1943197"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13630705/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149116655","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From one tree to the canopy: an evolutionary design trajectory for tethered robotics in forest environments.","authors":"Luca Romanello, Bahadir Basaran Kocer, Mirko Kovac","doi":"10.3389/frobt.2026.1859773","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2026.1859773","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Forest robotics has largely evolved along a ground-first and flight-dominant trajectory, treating the canopy as a region to observe or briefly access rather than a habitat to inhabit. In this Perspective, we propose an alternative canopy-first framework in which robots operate through anchoring, suspension, and tension-mediated interaction with the environment. We trace the progression from ground and aerial systems to perching mechanisms, identifying their shared limitation as transient canopy interaction. Tether-based robots instead enable sustained presence by transforming branches into structural supports. Within this context, TreeSpider is presented as an early canopy-innate morphology. We argue that such systems point toward a broader class of structure-innate robotics, where behavior emerges through physical coupling with the environment rather than continuous free-space mobility.</p>","PeriodicalId":47597,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Robotics and AI","volume":"13 ","pages":"1859773"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13624403/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149116626","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A review of full-stack autonomous obstacle avoidance for assistive robots for the disabled.","authors":"Yuan Zhang, Shuo Wang, Changlong Zhao, Wei Li, Zhenrong Shi, Meng Liu","doi":"10.3389/frobt.2026.1859583","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2026.1859583","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>With the intensification of population aging and the increasing awareness of protecting the rights of the disabled, significant progress has been made in assistive robots for visually impaired people, the mobility impairments and other groups. Research in this field focuses on four key technical dimensions: environmental perception, obstacle recognition and classification, path planning and obstacle avoidance algorithms, and scenario-based applications. This analysis particularly focuses on the ability of multi-sensor fusion to acquire spatial information in complex and dynamic environments, and reviews the technological evolution in target detection, semantic understanding, and passable area determination. The work further explores algorithms ranging from global path planning to local obstacle avoidance strategies, as well as reinforcement learning and multi-algorithm integration. Furthermore, this narrative review synthesizes the current research on assistive technologies, including guide robots for the visually impaired, intelligent mobility platforms for wheelchair users, and solutions adaptable to both indoor and outdoor environments. The insights derived from this review offer a reliable foundation to support the travel and daily activities of people with disabilities.</p>","PeriodicalId":47597,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Robotics and AI","volume":"13 ","pages":"1859583"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13624973/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149116628","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sensorless variable impedance control of robot joints with 3K gear reducers based on hybrid dynamics model and meta-policy optimization.","authors":"Jiyu Sun, Xiaoshan Gao, Liang Yan","doi":"10.3389/frobt.2026.1923729","DOIUrl":"10.3389/frobt.2026.1923729","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Achieving both high-precision trajectory tracking and compliant physical interaction in collaborative robot joints equipped with 3K planetary gear reducers remains challenging under torque-sensorless conditions. This paper proposes a physics-informed data-driven joint dynamics modeling method and an associated meta-policy-optimized adaptive variable impedance control scheme to address this limitation. First, a hybrid dynamics model combining lumped rigid-body dynamics with a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) for residual loss estimation is established. By incorporating power-flow direction features, the network identifies and predicts the time-varying transmission efficiency and nonlinear friction losses of the 3K reducer across motoring and generating quadrants. Second, a model-based feedforward torque compensation scheme is designed, and a variable-gain generalized momentum observer is developed to achieve stable estimation of external interaction torques. Building upon this, a force-responsive variable-stiffness impedance control law is formulated, and a proximal policy optimization (PPO) algorithm is employed within a contextual reinforcement learning architecture to search for optimal high-level meta-parameters, enabling adaptive adjustment of impedance parameters. Multi-condition dynamic interaction simulations demonstrate that the proposed hybrid modeling approach achieves a 40% improvement in joint torque prediction accuracy compared to the conventional momentum disturbance observer (MDOB) baseline. Furthermore, the adaptive variable stiffness control law actively adjusts the joint stiffness in response to estimated external forces, satisfying the dual requirements of high-precision tracking in free space and high compliance in contact space.</p>","PeriodicalId":47597,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Robotics and AI","volume":"13 ","pages":"1923729"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13619493/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149082435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An open-set hybrid CNN-TCN network for human action recognition with unknown action rejection in collaborative robot workspaces.","authors":"Yasir Abdullah R, Ignisha Rajathi G, Barakkath Nisha U, Johny Elton R","doi":"10.3389/frobt.2026.1919411","DOIUrl":"10.3389/frobt.2026.1919411","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Open-set recognition capability is becoming necessary for collaborative robots because actual shop-floor dynamics do not always correspond to the fixed action classes used during training. Misclassification of unknown human motions may lead to inappropriate robot responses, whereas reliable rejection enables safer supervisory control.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>An open-set human action recognition framework is developed by combining a spatial Convolutional Neural Network encoder with a Temporal Convolutional Network-based temporal aggregation module and an unknown-action rejection gate based on open-set scoring. The framework is evaluated on the NTU RGB+D 120 dataset using cross-subject and cross-view protocols with held-out action classes.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The proposed framework achieves 93.20% and 91.00% top-1 accuracy under cross-subject and cross-view evaluation, respectively, with corresponding Macro-F1 scores of 88.40% and 86.20%. For open-set detection, it achieves an AUROC of 0.938 and an AUPR of 0.750, with a 5.00% false acceptance rate for unknown actions and a 91.82% true known-action acceptance rate. The system operates at 15.0 ms per window and 66 fps on an NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX 16 GB, with a model size of 42 MB.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>The results demonstrate that calibrated unknown-action rejection can improve safety-aware human action recognition while retaining practical real-time performance for collaborative robot workspaces.</p>","PeriodicalId":47597,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Robotics and AI","volume":"13 ","pages":"1919411"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13613086/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149065255","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Emotion recognition and human-robot interaction: a systematic review of methods and applications.","authors":"Iraide Seijo Barquin, Juan Alejandro Castano, Virginia Ruiz Garate, Antonio J Del-Ama","doi":"10.3389/frobt.2026.1891746","DOIUrl":"10.3389/frobt.2026.1891746","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Physical human-robot interaction involves a tightly coupled cognitive interaction with the user. The emotional state of the user is therefore a key factor influencing engagement, motivation, and long-term acceptance. This review explores recent developments in emotion-aware technologies, particularly facial expression recognition and multimodal affect detection, and their potential to make assistive robots more adaptive and human-centred. By analysing current methodologies, emerging trends, and ethical considerations, we show how the integration of emotional intelligence can transform robotic assistance, shifting from reactive mechanisms to genuinely empathetic, socio-psychological, and context-aware assistive partners.</p>","PeriodicalId":47597,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Robotics and AI","volume":"13 ","pages":"1891746"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13612989/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149065186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Autonomous navigation and active perception with complex articulated AUVs.","authors":"Marios Xanthidis, Kostas Alexis, Eleni Kelasidi","doi":"10.3389/frobt.2026.1789488","DOIUrl":"10.3389/frobt.2026.1789488","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>With the recent progress in underwater robotics, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are increasing their mission capacity and range of applications operating in proximity to underwater infrastructure and closer to the wave zone for data collection and environmental monitoring. Future applications will necessitate more complex articulated systems that will be tasked to operate with increased safety, efficiency, and capacity. In this article, we present a novel motion planning framework for enabling, for the first time, safe autonomous navigation and active perception in high-dimensional articulated AUVs, employed with multiple arbitrary-configured sensors, in complex dynamic environments that are prone to uncertainties, disturbances, and currents. Inspired by previous work, we expand on a locally optimal and empirically safe pipeline designed for holonomic AUVs and enable it to handle articulated AUVs with potentially non-trivial dynamics that are unknown to the planner. We test the proposed methodologies with challenging simulated cases using an underwater snake robot (USR) with realistic dynamics and a generic underwater vehicle-manipulator system (UVMS) comprising of a holonomic base employed with a manipulator. Our results showcase the effectiveness of the proposed technique in producing efficient and safe real-time solutions, while discussing current limitations, computational bottlenecks, and potential solutions.</p>","PeriodicalId":47597,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Robotics and AI","volume":"13 ","pages":"1789488"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13612313/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149065183","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Polypyrrole coated nonwoven fabric as a piezoresistive sensing material: a multifunctional study on physicochemical, electromechanical, and biological assessment.","authors":"Hariprasad Ramachandran, Sharmila Nageswaran","doi":"10.3389/frobt.2026.1917223","DOIUrl":"10.3389/frobt.2026.1917223","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Textile-based pressure sensors for wearable applications require simple fabrication methods, long-term durability, and biocompatibility for skin contact, yet existing sensors often lack comprehensive validation. This study fabricates piezoresistive pressure sensors by depositing polypyrrole (PPy) on polypropylene nonwoven fabric via <i>in situ</i> chemical polymerization. This work combines simple fabrication with comprehensive electromechanical and biological validation. Material characterization using XRD, FTIR, Raman, SEM/EDX, and AFM confirmed uniform PPy coatings. The sensors show piezoresistive response across 0.6-6.1 kPa, with quasi-linear voltage increase and exponential resistance decrease under pressure. Voltage response followed a linear fit (sensitivity 0.47 V/kPa, <i>R</i> ² = 0.993), while resistance response followed an exponential decay fit (<i>R</i> ² = 0.998). Performance testing revealed 1000-cycle durability, one-hour stability (voltage drift -1.64%), temperature-dependent resistance response evaluated over an extended 30 °C-100 °C range for material-level characterization (NTC coefficient -0.941%/°C), and functionality retention over 7 washing cycles. Hysteresis measured 8.68% of full-scale output. Biocompatibility testing (ISO 10993-5) showed cell viability maintained above 70% at all concentrations up to 100 μg/mL, and antibacterial testing (AATCC 147) showed zones of 37-40 mm against <i>E. coli</i> and 38-42 mm against <i>S. aureus</i>. Overall, these laboratory-scale results indicate that PPy-coated nonwoven fabric is a promising material for durable, biocompatible pressure sensors.</p>","PeriodicalId":47597,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Robotics and AI","volume":"13 ","pages":"1917223"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13601714/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149041297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editorial: Foundation models for robot design.","authors":"Mahdi Tavakoli, Emmanuel Benjamin Vander Poorten, Sanja Dogramadzi, Jay Carriere, Amir Hooshiar, Arash Arami, Hamidreza Kasaei","doi":"10.3389/frobt.2026.1927761","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2026.1927761","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47597,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Robotics and AI","volume":"13 ","pages":"1927761"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13600826/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149041066","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}