We coordinated the H2020 Research and Innovation Action CENTAURO – Robust Mobility and Dexterous Manipulation in Disaster Response by Fullbody Telepresence in a Centaur-like Robot.
Disaster scenarios, like the Fukushima nuclear accident, clearly showed that the capabilities disaster response robots were not sufficient for providing the needed support to rescue workers. The CENTAURO project aimed at development of a human-robot symbiotic system where a human operator is telepresent with its whole body in a Centaur-like robot, which is capable of robust locomotion and dexterous manipulation in the rough terrain and austere conditions characteristic of disasters. The CENTAURO robot consists of a four-legged basis and an anthropomorphic upper body and is be driven by lightweight, compliant actuators. It is able to navigate in affected man-made environments, including the inside of buildings and stairs, which are cluttered with debris and partially collapsed. The Centauro system is capable of using unmodified human tools for solving complex bimanual manipulation tasks, such as connecting a hose or opening a valve, in order to relieve the situation. A human operator can control the robot intuitively using a full-body telepresence suit that provides visual, auditory, and upper body haptic feedback. Rich sensors provide the necessary situation awareness. Robot percepts and suggested actions are displayed to the operator with augmented reality techniques. For routine manipulation and navigation tasks, autonomous robot skills have been developed. This allows for taking the operator partially out of the control loop, which is necessary to cope with communication latencies and bandwidth limitations and to reduce the operator workload. A series of increasingly complex tests with corresponding evaluation criteria was devised from end-user requirements to systematically benchmark the capabilities of the developed disaster response system.
Tobias Klamt, Diego Rodriguez, Lorenzo Baccelliere, Xi Chen, Domenico
Chiaradia, Torben Cichon, Massimiliano Gabardi, Paolo Guria, Karl
Holmquist, Malgorzata Kamedula, Hakan Karaoguz, Navvab Kashiri, Arturo
Laurenzi, Christian Lenz, Daniele Leonardis, Enrico Mingo, Luca
Muratore, Dmytro Pavlichenko, Francesco Porcini, Zeyu Ren, Fabian
Schilling, Max Schwarz, Massimiliano Solazzi, Michael Felsberg,
Antonio Frisoli, Michael Gustmann, Patric Jensfelt, Klas Nordberg,
Juergen Rossmann, Uwe Suess, Nikos Tsagarakis, and Sven Behnke:
Flexible Disaster Response of
Tomorrow - Final Presentation and Evaluation of the CENTAURO
System
IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, Special Issue on
Humanoid Robot Applications in Real World Scenarios, December 2019.
[Video]
Dmytro Pavlichenko, Diego Rodriguez, Christian Lenz, Max Schwarz, and
Sven Behnke:
Autonomous Bimanual Functional
Regrasping of Novel Object Class Instances
In Proceedings of IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots
(Humanoids), Toronto, Canada, October 2019.
[Video]
Tobias Klamt, Max Schwarz, Christian Lenz, Lorenzo Baccelliere,
Domenico Buongiorno, Torben Cichon, Antonio DiGuardo, David Droeschel,
Massimiliano Gabardi, Malgorzata Kamedula, Navvab Kashiri, Arturo
Laurenzi, Daniele Leonardis, Luca Muratore, Dmytro Pavlichenko, Arul
S. Periyasamy, Diego Rodriguez, Massimiliano Solazzi, Antonio Frisoli,
Michael Gustmann, Jürgen Roßmann, Uwe Süss, Nikos G. Tsagarakis, and
Sven Behnke:
Remote mobile manipulation
with the Centauro robot: Full‐body telepresence and autonomous
operator assistance
Journal of Field Robotics (JFR), Wiley, 2019.
[Video]
Jürgen Beyerer, Frank Kirchner, Alin Albu-Schäffer, Tamim Asfour,
Sven Behnke, Andreas Birk, Wolfram Burgard, Thomas Deserno, Jeronimo
Dzaack, Thomas Egloffstein, Michael Gustmann, Andreas Nüchter, Patrick
Rosen, Hauke Speth, Sirko Straube, Igor Tchouchenkov, Martin
Zimmermann:
Retten, schützen, erkunden:
Lernende Systeme in lebensfeindlichen Umgebungen - Potenziale,
Herausforderungen und Gestaltungsoptionen
Plattform Lernende Systeme, Bericht der AG Lebensfeindliche
Umgebungen, Juni 2019.
Daniel Schleich,Tobias Klamt, and Sven Behnke:
Value Iteration Networks on
Multiple Levels of Abstraction
In Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS), Freiburg,
Germany, June 2019.
[Video]
Tobias Klamt and Sven Behnke:
Towards Learning Abstract
Representations for Locomotion Planning in High-dimensional State
Spaces
In Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and
Automation (ICRA), Montreal, Canada, May 2019.
[Video]
Dmytro Pavlichenko, Diego Rodriguez, Max Schwarz, Christian Lenz,
Arul Selvam Periyasamy, and Sven Behnke:
Autonomous Dual-Arm
Manipulation of Familiar Objects
In Proceedings of IEEE-RAS 18th International Conference on
Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), Beijing, China, November 2018.
Diego Rodriguez, Antonio Di Guardo, Antonio Frisoli, and Sven Behnke:
Learning Postural Synergies
for Categorical Grasping through Shape Space Registration
In Proceedings of IEEE-RAS 18th International Conference on
Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), Beijing, China, November 2018.
[Software]
Arul Selvam Periyasamy, Max Schwarz, and Sven Behnke:
Robust 6D Object Pose
Estimation in Cluttered Scenes using Semantic Segmentation and
Pose Regression Networks
In Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent
Robots and Systems (IROS), Madrid, Spain, October 2018.
[Video]
Tobias Klamt, Diego Rodriguez, Max Schwarz, Christian Lenz, Dmytro
Pavlichenko, David Droeschel, and Sven Behnke:
Supervised Autonomous
Locomotion and Manipulation for Disaster Response with a
Centaur-like Robot
In Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent
Robots and Systems (IROS), Madrid, Spain, October 2018.
[Video]
Diego Rodriguez and Sven Behnke:
Transferring Category-based
Functional Grasping Skills by Latent Space Non-Rigid Registration
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), Special Issue on Learning
and Control for Autonomous Manipulation Systems: the Role of
Dimensionality Reduction, 3(3):2662-2669, April 2018.
[Video]
Diego Rodriguez, Corbin Cogswell, Seongyong Koo, and Sven Behnke:
Transferring Grasping Skills
to Novel Instances by Latent Space Non-Rigid Registration
In Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and
Automation (ICRA), Brisbane, Australia, May 2018.
[Video]
Tobias Klamt and Sven Behnke:
Planning Hybrid
Driving-Stepping Locomotion on Multiple Levels of Abstraction
In Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and
Automation (ICRA), pp. 1695-1702, Brisbane, Australia, May 2018.
[Video]
Tobias Klamt and Sven Behnke:
Anytime Hybrid
Driving-Stepping Locomotion Planning
In Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on
Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Vancouver, Canada, September
2017.
Finalist for Best Paper Award on Safety Security and Rescue
Robotics.
[Video]
Dmytro Pavlichenko and Sven Behnke:
Efficient Stochastic
Multicriteria Arm Trajectory Optimization
In Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent
Robots and Systems (IROS), Vancouver, Canada, September 2017.
[Video]
13.10.2016
The article by Max Schwarz, Marius Beul, David Droeschel, Sebastian
Schüller, Arul Selvam Periyasamy, Christian Lenz, Michael Schreiber,
and Sven Behnke:
Supervised Autonomy for
Exploration and Mobile Manipulation in Rough Terrain with a
Centaur-like Robot
has been published for the journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI,
section Humanoid Robotics, vol. 3, article 57, 2016.
DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2016.00057
29.7.2016
The paper by Max Schwarz, Tobias Rodehutskors, David Droeschel,
Marius Beul, Michael Schreiber, Nikita Araslanov, Ivan Ivanov,
Christian Lenz, Jan Razlaw, Sebastian Schüller, David Schwarz,
Angeliki Topalidou-Kyniazopoulou, and Sven Behnke:
NimbRo Rescue: Solving
Disaster-Response Tasks through Mobile Manipulation Robot Momaro
has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Field
Robotics (JFR), Wiley.
It appeared in volume 34, issue 2, pages 400–425, March 2017.
12.5.2016
The paper by Max Schwarz, Sebastian Schüller, Christian Lenz, David
Droeschel, and Sven Behnke:
Supervised Autonomy for
Exploration and Mobile Manipulation in Rough Terrain
has been presentated at the 14th International Conference on
Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS), Shanghai, China, July 2016.
15.1.2016
The paper by Max Schwarz, Tobias Rodehutskors, Michael Schreiber, and
Sven Behnke:
Hybrid Driving-Stepping
Locomotion with the Wheeled-legged Robot Momaro
has been presentated at the IEEE International Conference on
Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Stockholm, Sweden, May 2016. [Video]
16.11.2015
Press release of University of Bonn: Roboter überzeugt beim DLR SpaceBot Camp
13.11.2015
Our team NimbRo Explorer solved through the mobile manipulation robot Momaro all tasks at the DLR SpaceBot Camp: taking a soil sample, finding and grasping two objects, transporting them to a basis object, assembly (placing the soil sample at a scale and inserting a battery pack) and operating a switch.
12.11.2015
Today is a testing day. Our team has two scheduled test slots.
11.11.2015
Our team NimbRo Explorer participates with the mobile manipulation robot Momaro at the DLR SpaceBot Camp 2015 in Hürth.Ten teams from leading German robotics labs will demonstrate semi-autonomous mobile manipulation in a moon-like environment. Based on a coarse map, the robot must explore the arena, find two objects, take a soil sample, transport the objects to a base and assemble them there. Communication to the operator crew is possible only sometimes and has 4 seconds latency.
30.10.2015
A team from DLR made a teaser video.
10.9.2015
Our team NimbRo Explorer qualified as first of the ten qualification event participants for the DLR SpaceBot Cup. Through the mobile manipulation robot Momaro, our operators solved all three qualification tasks in the first attempt. The DLR SpaceBot Cup qualification event took place in Bonn.
3.7.2015
Representatives of DLR and the network provider visited our lab. The DLR communication network was tested sucessfully. The Momaro robot was demonstrated.
6.6.2015
Our new mobile manipulation robot Momaro was tested at the DARPA Robotics Challenge in Pomona, CA. Our team NimbRo Rescue was ranked as the best European team, comming in 4th in the overall ranking. Though the Momaro robot, the operators solved seven of the eight possible tasks in only 34 minutes: driving a car, climbing out of the car, opening a door, turning a valve, cutting a hole in a wall, traversing debris, and a surprise task, which was operating an electrical switch. More information.
15.4.2015
Representatives of DLR visited our lab for the review meeting "Design".
4.3.2015
The article by Jörg Stückler, Max Schwarz, Mark Schadler, Angeliki
Topalidou-Kyniazopoulou, and Sven Behnke:
NimbRo Explorer:
Semi-Autonomous Exploration and Mobile Manipulation in Rough
Terrain
has been accepted for the Journal of Field Robotics. It appeared in
vol. 33(4):411-430, Wiley, 2016.
8.12.2014
Our Team NimbRo Explorer is supported by the German Aerospace Center
to participate at the DLR
SpaceBot
Cup 2015.
Tasks in this challenge are semi-autononomous mobile manipulation in rough terrain. The Kickoff meeting took place in Bonn.
18.3.2014
Max Schwarz and Sven Behnke:
Local Navigation in Rough
Terrain using Omnidirectional Height
In Proceedings of Joint 45th International Symposium on Robotics (ISR)
and 8th German Conference on Robotics (ROBOTIK),
Munich, June 2014.
10.3.2014
Mark Schadler, Jörg Stückler, and Sven Behnke:
Rough Terrain 3D Mapping and
Navigation using a Continuously Rotating 2D Laser Scanner
German Journal on Artificial Intelligence (KI) 28(2):93-99,
Springer, 2014.
18.12.2013
Video of our Explorer robot demonstrating exploration and mobile manipulation at the DLR SpaceBot Cup.
22.11.2013
Map of the SpaceBot Cup arena created from 3D laser scans taken after the end of the competition.
20.11.2013
An informative article on the competition by dw.de: Weltraum-Roboter im Wettstreit
13.11.2013
Press release of University of Bonn on the results of our team: Roboter demonstrieren mobile Manipulation
12.11.2013
In the afternoon, all teams had the opportunity to simultanously operate their robots in the arena. Our Explorer robot demonstrated autonomous grasping and storage of the battery pack and autonomous removal of the battery pack from its holder. It also removed the cup from the holder and placed it on the scale. The jury decided to award no trophies to any of the teams. No competition scores have been communicated to the teams so far.
11.11.2013
Our Explorer robot had its run in the unknown arena today. It created a 3D map of the terrain and navigated to one of the objects that where placed in the arena. It grasped this water-filled cup autonomously and placed it in the holding mechanism without spilling any water. After the official run ended, the robot navitated to the other side of the arena and climbed a hill.
10.11.2013
We tested in a small area outside the arena. We also tested the ground station and the network provided by DLR.
9.11.2013
First evening in the SuperCross hall, Rheinbreitbach.
The arena contains a variety of surfaces and obstacles.
7.11.2013
University of Bonn released information
for
the media.
6.11.2013
A first photo of our Explorer robot.
30.10.2013
DLR published a video introducing our team.
26.10.2013
The paper Mark Schadler, Jörg Stückler and Sven Behnke:
Multi-Resolution Surfel
Mapping and Real-Time Pose Tracking using a Continuously Rotating
2D Laser Scanner
has been presented at the 11th IEEE International Symposium on
Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR), Linköping, Sweden,
October 2013.
Further information on our entry NimbRo Centauro to the DLR SpaceBot Cup 2013 is available here.
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