In this paper, it is studied how a certain class of physical constraints can be represented by a continuous set of orientations and how this representation is especially suitable for representing the constraints imposed by revolute and spherical joints. Further, it is shown how this can be used to represent the freedom of passive joints. It is recognised that in cooperative manipulation, the re...

A robotic assistance system is presented which enables a human to handle unwieldy long objects by providing only one point of support. The robot grasps one end of the object and helps the human operator carry it at the other end. The proposed control method uses a virtual nonholonomic constraint. The movement of the object is constrained as if it were being carried on a wheel attached to the ob...

This paper proposes a new architecture for tightly coupled multi robot coordination that is well suited to cooperative manipulation tasks At all times a robot is identi ed as a leader while the others are desig nated as followers The assignment of roles and the coordination between the robots is guaranteed by com munication protocols and control algorithms The key feature is the exibility that ...

The complete design and realization of an underwater manipulation system composed by two cooperating arms has been one of the main goals which has been recently attained at the end of the AMADEUS Phase II project: a three years lasting reserch activity, funded by the European Community within the framework of the MAST III program on Marine Technology development. Within this paper, the lines an...

This paper introduces the MasterFinger developemt and application, a multi-finger haptic interface for virtual object manipulation. This haptic device, with a modular interface, is specially designed to perform collaborative tasks. Each module is in charge of managing the haptic interaction with a finger. The mechanical structure of the module is based on a serial-parallel structure linked to t...

The RoboCup@Home league is a benchmark for domestic service robot systems. It evaluates approaches to mobile manipulation and human-robot interaction by testing integrated systems. In this article, we detail the contributions of our team NimbRo, with which we won the RoboCup@Home competition in 2011. We demonstrated novel capabilities in the league such as real-time tabletop segmentation, flexi...

Experiments designed to quantify the effects of increasing numbers of carers on levels of offspring care are rare in cooperative breeding systems, where offspring are reared by individuals additional to the breeding pair. This paucity might stem from disagreement over the most appropriate manipulations necessary to elucidate these effects. Here, we perform both carer removal and brood enhanceme...

Please cite this article in press as: Zöttl, M., et of alloparental care, Animal Behaviour (201 In cooperative breeders, where nonparents participate in brood care, the investment of contributors to offspring care is predicted to be interdependent, reflecting a conflict of fitness interests between care providers. We experimentally manipulated the alloparental care of subordinate helpers in the...

In this study, we investigated the use of successive omnidirectional appearance manipulation for the cooperative control of multiple projector camera systems. This type of system comprises several surrounding projector camera units, where each unit projects illumination independently onto a different aspect of a target object based on feedback from the projector cameras. Thus, the system can fa...

The transition from multiple-port to single-port robotic systems in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) procedures has made flexible, dexterous manipulation an essential capability. The requirement that single-port MIS devices span an enclosed surgical workspace through only one access point while avoiding collateral damage to surrounding tissues necessitates the employment of mechanically sophist...