Robotics and Autonomous Systems最新文献

{"title":"MirrorNet: Hallucinating 2.5D depth images for efficient 3D scene reconstruction","authors":"Rafał Staszak,&nbsp;Bartlomiej Kulecki,&nbsp;Marek Kraft,&nbsp;Dominik Belter","doi":"10.1016/j.robot.2025.105321","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.robot.2025.105321","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Robots face challenges in perceiving new scenes, particularly when registering objects from a single perspective, resulting in incomplete shape information about objects. Partial object models negatively influence the performance of grasping methods. To address this, robots can scan the scene from various perspectives or employ methods to directly fill in unknown regions. This research reexamines scene reconstruction typically formulated in 3D space, proposing a novel formulation in 2D image space for robots with RGB-D cameras. We introduce a method that generates a depth image from a virtual camera pose located on the opposite position of the reconstructed object. The article demonstrates that the convolutional neural network can be trained for accurate depth image generation and subsequent 3D scene reconstruction from a single viewpoint. We show that the proposed approach is computationally efficient and accurate when compared to methods that operate directly in 3D space. Furthermore, we illustrate the application of this model in enhancing grasping method success rates.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49592,"journal":{"name":"Robotics and Autonomous Systems","volume":"198 ","pages":"Article 105321"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145885479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Estimating the dominant frequencies of real-valued cyclic processes in natural environments for long-term operation of autonomous robots","authors":"Tomáš Vintr ,&nbsp;Jan Blaha ,&nbsp;Jiří Ulrich ,&nbsp;Tomáš Rouček ,&nbsp;George Broughton ,&nbsp;Tom Duckett ,&nbsp;Farshad Arvin ,&nbsp;Tomáš Krajník","doi":"10.1016/j.robot.2025.105299","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.robot.2025.105299","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Autonomous mobile robot localisation, planning, and navigation methods typically rely on environmental representations. Previous research has shown that the temporal dynamics captured by specialised models help autonomous robots to operate for longer periods with better efficiency. One of the leading approaches uses maps enhanced by frequency analysis to model and predict repeating cycles of activity in the environment. However, this approach implicitly relies on prior knowledge of the expected periodicities, such as days and weeks, encoded by the human designers of the system. This paper presents a new method to automatically search the robot’s observations for dominant frequencies, leading to a more general method than the previous approach for frequency map enhancement. The proposed algorithm extends the problem definition from binary observations also to real-valued time series, making it applicable to a broader spectrum of robotic tasks. We show that the new method can be implemented in robotic systems operating without prior knowledge of the underlying processes that influence the dynamics of the working environment across a wide variety of tasks similar to the long-standing state-of-the-art. We hypothesise that an autonomous robot using the proposed improvement can be deployed to unprecedented environments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49592,"journal":{"name":"Robotics and Autonomous Systems","volume":"198 ","pages":"Article 105299"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145885481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Efficient distributed multi-robot SLAM under missed detections and clutter with labeled multi-Bernoulli map","authors":"Lin Gao ,&nbsp;Giorgio Battistelli ,&nbsp;Luigi Chisci","doi":"10.1016/j.robot.2026.105358","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.robot.2026.105358","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The <em>labeled multi-Bernoulli</em> (LMB) propagation of the environmental map has demonstrated its effectiveness for single-vehicle <em>simultaneous localization and mapping</em> (SLAM), yielding the LMB-SLAM method. In applications of LMB-SLAM, the robot is equipped with sensors (such as radar) that provide detection points of landmarks, so that the main challenge of performing SLAM is to tackle data association between landmarks and measurements under missed detections and clutter. This paper provides two contributions on LMB-SLAM. First, we improve its computational efficiency by an appropriate design of the proposal distribution that approximates the posterior of the vehicle pose. In this way, particles can be sampled in a more efficient way thus remarkably reducing their number, and the consequent computational load required to achieve a given performance level. Secondly, we extend LMB-SLAM to the multi-vehicle case, assuming that relative initial poses among vehicles are known, by suitable design of a map fusion method that allows to generate a more accurate and complete map in both explored and unexplored regions so as to improve both localization and mapping performance by vehicle cooperation. The improved performance of the proposed, single-vehicle and multi-vehicle, LMB-SLAM algorithms is assessed via experiments on both simulated and real data.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49592,"journal":{"name":"Robotics and Autonomous Systems","volume":"198 ","pages":"Article 105358"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146037685","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An Efficient Geometry-Informed Inverse Kinematics of a 7 DOF Cable-Driven Manipulator with Non-Sphere Shoulder and Wrist","authors":"Zhiwei Wu ,&nbsp;Lei Yan ,&nbsp;Tianhong Cheng ,&nbsp;Wenfu Xu ,&nbsp;Bin Liang","doi":"10.1016/j.robot.2026.105335","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.robot.2026.105335","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The cable-driven redundant manipulator (CDRM) is characterized by its lightweight, low inertia, and inherent compliance, enabling a wide range of applications in fields such as home services and medical rehabilitation. However, due to its complicated cable drive and transmission mechanism, compared with traditional redundant manipulator, the additional coupling cable kinematics is introduced into the inverse kinematics. Further, as the number of coupled equivalent joints of CDRM increases, it becomes challenging to obtain an efficient as well as stable inverse kinematics solution. In this paper, we propose an efficient geometry-informed inverse kinematics method by combining the geometry-based analytical approach and gradient-based numerical approach. First, the CDRM with 11 equivalent kinematic joints is reconstructed into a 7-DOF manipulator without joint offset. Based on the geometric characteristics, the analytical inverse kinematics of the reconstructed offset-free manipulator is derived to provide physically explainable iterative initial values in approximate solution space for numerical approach. Several numerical calculation results demonstrate that our method inherits the advantages of analytical approach, achieving accurate IK solutions, and improving the computational efficiency and the number of feasible solutions. Additionally, it also addresses the divergence issue resulting from irrational selection of initial values in numerical approach. Furthermore, the solution space can be comprehensively exploited by intuitively adjusting the arm-shape parameters and optimizing the manipulator’s configuration, in order to avoid surrounding obstacles, and optimize cable-tension distribution.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49592,"journal":{"name":"Robotics and Autonomous Systems","volume":"198 ","pages":"Article 105335"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145978332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unified motion control of 4WIS-4WID WMR with unlimited steering and load transfer consideration","authors":"Dongwoo Seo,&nbsp;Seokki Moon,&nbsp;Jaeyoung Kang","doi":"10.1016/j.robot.2026.105341","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.robot.2026.105341","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents a unified motion control framework for a four-wheel independent steering (4WIS) and four-wheel independent drive (4WID) wheeled mobile robot (WMR) equipped with an unlimited steering angle system. Unlike conventional methods that rely on mode-specific kinematic controllers, the proposed controller does not require prior classification of driving modes. The controller defines the necessary forces at the tire positions to track the desired velocity profile in the body-fixed frame, considering tire slip dynamics, load transfer effects, and friction constraints based on the Magic Formula. The steering angles and in-wheel motor torques are then determined to generate the required forces. Due to the difficulty of directly measuring tire forces, a disturbance observer (DOB) is used to estimate these forces in real-time. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed controller outperforms conventional kinematics-based approaches in velocity tracking accuracy, while maintaining stable tire force distribution and vertical load limits, ensuring the robot’s stability and effective maneuverability even under highly dynamic conditions characterized by large lateral accelerations and the resulting tire slip and load transfer.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49592,"journal":{"name":"Robotics and Autonomous Systems","volume":"198 ","pages":"Article 105341"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145978321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A survey on magnetically driven continuum robots for biomedical application","authors":"Pan Li ,&nbsp;Yifei Chen ,&nbsp;Xinghua Lin ,&nbsp;Chongcong Ye ,&nbsp;Junxia Zhang ,&nbsp;Delei Fang ,&nbsp;Cunman Liang","doi":"10.1016/j.robot.2025.105316","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.robot.2025.105316","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper systematically reviews the research advancements, core technical characteristics, and application challenges of magnetic continuum robots. As a key direction in the field of soft robotics, magnetic continuum robots leverage the non-contact manipulation characteristics of magnetic field actuation to demonstrate unique advantages in narrow-space operations (such as intravascular guidewire navigation), high-precision manipulation (such as minimally invasive surgery), and dynamic environmental adaptation. Their application scenarios have expanded from single intravascular interventions to complex task execution across the entire body. The paper highlights that the development of various magnetic actuators (such as gradient magnetic field generators and rotating magnetic field devices) has accelerated improvements in the robots’ motion flexibility and task adaptability. However, significant technical bottlenecks remain: insufficient environmental adaptability of control algorithms leading to trajectory deviations, instability caused by the complexity of system dynamics modeling, contradictions between the spatial uniformity and penetration depth of the actuation magnetic field, and the challenge of balancing biocompatibility, mechanical durability, and magnetic response efficiency in flexible polymer materials—all of which limit their clinical application. Finally, from the perspective of technological integration and breakthroughs, this paper discusses future development directions: deep integration of artificial intelligence and control algorithms, application of biocompatible materials and 3D printing technologies, optimization of magnetic actuation platforms, enhancement of multimodal collaborative operation capabilities, and expansion into interdisciplinary fields such as environmental monitoring and elderly care services. This review provides a systematic research framework and conceptual references for the technological evolution and practical application of magnetic continuum robots.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49592,"journal":{"name":"Robotics and Autonomous Systems","volume":"198 ","pages":"Article 105316"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145885480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spiking control of dielectric elastomer actuators","authors":"Lukas Sohlbach ,&nbsp;Fernando Pérez-Peña ,&nbsp;Karsten Schmidt","doi":"10.1016/j.robot.2026.105353","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.robot.2026.105353","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rigid robots are highly specialised and can perform tasks with incredible precision. In contrast, soft robots provide a promising solution for creating robotic systems that are inherently better suited for unstructured and dynamic environments. Artificial muscles comprise one of the core components of soft robots. Among them, dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) represent the technology that comes closest to the capabilities of a natural muscle. However, their viscoelastic effects may limit the applicability and represent the main reason why suitable control methods are required. Thus, the objective of this work is to have a look at bioinspired spiking closed-loop control systems. By doing so, the research attempts to take a step towards creating true soft robots, which are bioinspired in all systems. A spiking neural network (SNN) is developed that comprised the main part of the controller and whose output is used as the control value. All information inside the controller was represented via spikes and the controller was implemented on neuromorphic hardware. During the validation, the general functionality was proven and a frequency-dependent tracking performance was observed. In a frequency range comparable to other works (≤ 0.5 Hz), the qualitative evaluation shows a good tracking performance even with a sinusoidal input.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49592,"journal":{"name":"Robotics and Autonomous Systems","volume":"198 ","pages":"Article 105353"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145978330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A self-supervised learning approach to acquire representation of concave object manipulation with sparse tactile sensing","authors":"Daiki Takamori ,&nbsp;Yuichi Kobayashi ,&nbsp;Tomohiro Hayakawa ,&nbsp;Kosuke Hara ,&nbsp;Dotaro Usui","doi":"10.1016/j.robot.2025.105319","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.robot.2025.105319","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tactile sensing is essential for improving robotic manipulation, particularly when handling transparent or deformable objects. However, effectively leveraging tactile observations remains a key challenge. In this study, we propose a semi-self-supervised complementary learning framework that integrates visual input with sparse tactile data collected through probing actions. Unlike previous approaches that rely on high-resolution tactile sensors or detailed 3D reconstructions, our method employs sparse tactile sensing to construct object representations via unsupervised learning. The proposed framework enables both complementary and independent recognition through vision and tactile perception, allowing the robot to perform additional probing actions to verify whether its hand has actually reached inside an object. We trained and evaluated our method on opening exploration tasks involving semi-transparent and deformable objects, using a relatively small real-world dataset collected with a robotic hand equipped with a simple tactile sensor.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49592,"journal":{"name":"Robotics and Autonomous Systems","volume":"198 ","pages":"Article 105319"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145978329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An adaptive bidirectional optimal rapidly exploring random tree algorithm with dynamic adjustment and extended guidance strategy","authors":"Dan Chen ,&nbsp;Kaiwen Luo ,&nbsp;Zichen Wang ,&nbsp;Lintao Fan ,&nbsp;Changqing Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.robot.2025.105314","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.robot.2025.105314","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In order to solve the problems of strong expansion randomness, slow convergence speed, and poor environmental adaptability in the optimal Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (RRT*) algorithm, this paper proposes an adaptive bidirectional RRT*(AB-RRT*) algorithm. The algorithm first initializes the target bias probability and expansion step size in random sampling using an evaluation function based on factors such as map size, number of obstacles, and starting point distance. It adaptively adjusts the target bias probability and expansion step size based on the number of collision detections, reducing the randomness of the sampling process and effectively reducing the number of redundant points generated. Secondly, collision zone shielding and extended node guidance strategies were proposed to guide random trees quickly through narrow and complex environments, improving the convergence speed of the algorithm. Finally, redundant points are removed and smoothed from the initial path to obtain a better global path. We conducted comparative experiments between the proposed algorithm and RRT*, Q-RRT*, GB-RRT, RRT-Connect, RRT*-Connect, GBB-RRT*, and Informed-Bi-RRT* in four different complexity scenarios. The results showed that compared with the best performing Informed-Bi-RRT* algorithm, the AB-RRT* algorithm shortened the path generation time by 17.2% to 71.54% in different scenarios, reduced the path length by 0.44% to 2.25%, and achieved a planning success rate of 100%. This proves the superiority of AB-RRT* algorithm in planning efficiency and path quality, as well as its excellent adaptability and robustness in different environments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49592,"journal":{"name":"Robotics and Autonomous Systems","volume":"198 ","pages":"Article 105314"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145885485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A review on vision-based control for multi-rotor aerial vehicles","authors":"Ana Maria P.S. Nascimento ,&nbsp;Alisson V. Brito ,&nbsp;Martin Saska ,&nbsp;Tiago P. Nascimento","doi":"10.1016/j.robot.2026.105366","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.robot.2026.105366","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As the work speed and dynamics of multi-rotor aerial vehicles (MAVs) in real-world applications increase, vision-based control techniques have gained significant attention. By relying on visual input, environmental perception is enhanced, enabling tasks such as obstacle avoidance, landing, perching, and aerial manipulation. Thus, this article provides an overview of the latest advances in vision-based control for multi-rotor aerial robot systems, as well as future research directions that remain under exploration. We highlight a surge in research activity, particularly since 2010, driven by the proliferation of multi-rotor unmanned aerial systems. Additionally, we explore documented practical applications and identify the challenges that arise with this control paradigm. Finally, the primary aim of this survey is to provide a cohesive and accessible summary that contextualizes the mathematical foundations of vision-based control techniques applied to MAVs. This serves as a foundational resource for researchers venturing into the realm of visual-based control for MAVs. Ultimately, this work aims to provide a comprehensive review of recent advances in the field, directing readers to notable and successful works within the state-of-the-art landscape.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49592,"journal":{"name":"Robotics and Autonomous Systems","volume":"198 ","pages":"Article 105366"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146078413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}