Julia Di
Stanford University
Robotics will play a vital role in space exploration in the coming decade. A team of smaller robots has many advantages over a single-agent rover, and enabling such teams of robots to grasp and manipulate a common load is a key step toward in-situ construction on celestial bodies, in-orbit construction, and eventually human-robot interaction. Aligned with 2020 Technology Taxonomy TX 04.1.1. Robotic Systems, this work proposes to develop sensors to enable non-traditional grasping and manipulation, such as grippers augmented by microspines or gecko-inspired adhesives. Using these novel tactile sensors, we also aim to take inspiration from optimal control and reinforcement learning to study optimizations and controllers for manipulation with tactile feedback. Further, we aim to assess non-traditional manipulation in a collaborative multi-agent system, as discussed in TX 04.6.2.