Simultaneous State Estimation and Online Model Learning in a Soft Robotic System
Operating complex real-world systems, such as soft robots, can benefit from precise predictive control schemes that require accurate state and model knowledge. This knowledge is typically not available in practical settings and must be inferred from noisy measurements. In particular, it is challenging to simultaneously estimate unknown states and learn a model online from sequentially arriving measurements. In this paper, we show how a recently proposed gray-box system identification tool enables the estimation of a soft robot's current pose while at the same time learning a bending stiffness model. For estimation and learning, we only need a nominal constant-curvature robot model and measurements of the robot's base reactions (e.g., base forces). The estimation scheme -- relying on a marginalized particle filter -- allows us to conveniently interface nominal constant-curvature equations with a Gaussian Process (GP) bending stiffness model to be learned. This, in contrast to estimation via a random walk over stiffness values, enables prediction of bending stiffness and improves overall model quality. We demonstrate, using a real-world soft robot, that the method learns a bending-stiffness model online while accurately estimating the robot's pose. Notably, reduced error in multi-step forward predictions indicates that the learned bending-stiffness GP improves overall model quality.
Code (0)
등록된 구현이 없습니다.
Similar Papers 제목 키워드 기반
Simultaneous Triggering and Synchronization of Sensors and Onboard Computers
High fidelity estimation algorithms for robotics require accurate data. However, timestamping of sensor data is a key issue that rarely receives the attention it deserves. Inaccurate timestamping can be compensated for i…
Rusty Flying Robots: Learning a Full Robotics Stack with Real-Time Operation on an STM32 Microcontroller in a 9 ECTS MS Course
We describe a novel masters-level projects class that teaches robotics along the traditional robotics pipeline (dynamics, state estimation, controls, planning). One key motivational part is that students have to directly…
End-to-End Design and Validation of a Low-Cost Stewart Platform with Nonlinear Estimation and Control
This paper presents the complete design, control, and experimental validation of a low-cost Stewart platform prototype developed as an affordable yet capable robotic testbed for research and education. The platform combi…
Learning Soft Robotic Dynamics with Active Exploration
Soft robots offer unmatched adaptability and safety in unstructured environments, yet their compliant, high-dimensional, and nonlinear dynamics make modeling for control notoriously difficult. Existing data-driven approa…
Reinforcement LearningAdaptive Artificial Time-Delay Control with Barrier Lyapunov Constraints for Euler-Lagrange Robots
This paper addresses the challenge of simultaneously compensating for state-dependent uncertainties and enforcing time-varying state constraints in Euler-Lagrange systems, a common requirement in robotics that remains un…