In concrete troweling for building construction, robots can significantly reduce workload and improve automation level. However, as a primary task of coverage path planning (CPP) for troweling, delimitating area of interest (AOI) in complex scenes is still challenging, especially for swing-arm robots with more complex working modes. Thus, this research proposes an algorithm to delimitate AOI for swing-arm troweling robot (SatAOI algorithm). By analyzing characteristics of the robot and obstacle maps, mathematical models and collision principles are established. On this basis, SatAOI algorithm achieves AOI delimitation by global search and collision detection. Experiments on different obstacle maps indicate that AOI can be effectively delimitated in scenes under different complexity, and the algorithm can fully consider the connectivity of obstacle maps. This research serves as a foundation for CPP algorithm and full process simulation of swing-arm troweling robots.

Embodied interaction has been introduced to human-robot interaction (HRI) as a type of teleoperation, in which users control robot arms with bodily action via handheld controllers or haptic gloves. Embodied teleoperation has made robot control intuitive to non-technical users, but differences between humans' and robots' capabilities \eg ranges of motion and response time, remain challenging. In response, we present Arm Robot, an embodied robot arm teleoperation system that helps users tackle human-robot discrepancies. Specifically, Arm Robot (1) includes AR visualization as real-time feedback on temporal and spatial discrepancies, and (2) allows users to change observing perspectives and expand action space. We conducted a user study (N=18) to investigate the usability of the Arm Robot and learn how users perceive the embodiment. Our results show users could use Arm Robot's features to effectively control the robot arm, providing insights for continued work in embodied HRI.

This study proposes LiP-LLM: integrating linear programming and dependency graph with large language models (LLMs) for multi-robot task planning. In order for multiple robots to perform tasks more efficiently, it is necessary to manage the precedence dependencies between tasks. Although multi-robot decentralized and centralized task planners using LLMs have been proposed, none of these studies focus on precedence dependencies from the perspective of task efficiency or leverage traditional optimization methods. It addresses key challenges in managing dependencies between skills and optimizing task allocation. LiP-LLM consists of three steps: skill list generation and dependency graph generation by LLMs, and task allocation using linear programming. The LLMs are utilized to generate a comprehensive list of skills and to construct a dependency graph that maps the relationships and sequential constraints among these skills. To ensure the feasibility and efficiency of skill execution, the skill list is generated by calculated likelihood, and linear programming is used to optimally allocate tasks to each robot. Experimental evaluations in simulated environments demonstrate that this method outperforms existing task planners, achieving higher success rates and efficiency in executing complex, multi-robot tasks. The results indicate the potential of combining LLMs with optimization techniques to enhance the capabilities of multi-robot systems in executing coordinated tasks accurately and efficiently. In an environment with two robots, a maximum success rate difference of 0.82 is observed in the language instruction group with a change in the object name.

In this study, we propose the use of the phase-amplitude reduction method to construct an imitation learning framework. Imitating human movement trajectories is recognized as a promising strategy for generating a range of human-like robot movements. Unlike previous dynamical system-based imitation learning approaches, our proposed method allows the robot not only to imitate a limit cycle trajectory but also to replicate the transient movement from the initial or disturbed state to the limit cycle. Consequently, our method offers a safer imitation learning approach that avoids generating unpredictable motions immediately after disturbances or from a specified initial state. We first validated our proposed method by reconstructing a simple limit-cycle attractor. We then compared the proposed approach with a conventional method on a lemniscate trajectory tracking task with a simulated robot arm. Our findings confirm that our proposed method can more accurately generate transient movements to converge on a target periodic attractor compared to the previous standard approach. Subsequently, we applied our method to a real robot arm to imitate periodic human movements.

Utilizing robotic systems in the construction industry is gaining popularity due to their build time, precision, and efficiency. In this paper, we introduce a system that allows the coordination of multiple manipulator robots for construction activities. As a case study, we chose robotic brick wall assembly. By utilizing a multi-robot system where arm manipulators collaborate with each other, the entirety of a potentially long wall can be assembled simultaneously. However, the reduction of overall bricklaying time is dependent on the minimization of time required for each individual manipulator. In this paper, we execute the simulation with various placements of material and the robot's base, as well as different robot configurations, to determine the optimal position of the robot and material and the best configuration for the robot. The simulation results provide users with insights into how to find the best placement of robots and raw materials for brick wall assembly.

The new Bi-Touch system, designed by scientists at the University of Bristol and based at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, allows robots to carry out manual tasks by sensing what to do from a digital helper. The findings, published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, show how an AI agent interprets its environment through tactile and proprioceptive feedback, and then control the robots' behaviours, enabling precise sensing, gentle interaction, and effective object manipulation to accomplish robotic tasks. This development could revolutionise industries such as fruit picking, domestic service, and eventually recreate touch in artificial limbs. Lead author Yijiong Lin from the Faculty of Engineering, explained: "With our Bi-Touch system, we can easily train AI agents in a virtual world within a couple of hours to achieve bimanual tasks that are tailored towards the touch. And more importantly, we can directly apply these agents from the virtual world to the real world without ...

Elected officials and local authorities across the United States and around the world should consider replicating an innovative legislative proposal that would prohibit police from arming robots used in their law enforcement operations. The bill, introduced on March 18 by New York City council members Ben Kallos and Vanessa Gibson, would "prohibit the New York City Police Department (NYPD) from using or threatening to use robots armed with a weapon or to use robots in any manner that is substantially likely to cause death or serious physical injury." The proposed law comes after a social media outcry over the use of an unarmed 70-pound ground robot manufactured by Boston Dynamics in a policing operation last month in the Bronx. US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized its deployment "for testing on low-income communities of color with under-resourced schools" and suggested the city should invest instead in education. In a statement published in Wired and other news outlets, Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter said that the company's robots "will achieve long-term commercial viability only if people see robots as helpful, beneficial tools without worrying if they're going to cause harm."

For instance, dual arm manipulators have been effectively employed in a diversity of tasks including assembling a car, grasping and transporting an object or nursing the elderly [7]. In those scenarios, the DAR have been expected to behave like a human, which is they should be able to manipulate an object similarly to what a person does [3]. As compared to a single arm robot, the DAR have significant advantages such as more flexible movements, higher precision and greater dexterity for handling large objects [8, 9]. Nevertheless, since the kinematic and dynamic models of the DAR system are much more complicated than those of a single arm robot, it has more challenges to effectively and efficiently control the DAR, where synchronously coordinating the robot arms are highly expected. In order to accurately and stabily track the robot arms along desired trajectories, a number of the control strategies have been proposed. For instance, the traditional methods such as nonlinear feedback control [10] or hybrid force/position control relied on the kinematics and statics [11, 12] have been proposed to simultaneously control both of the arms. In the works [13, 14, 15], the authors have proposed to utilize the impedance control by considering the dynamic interaction between the robot and its surrounding environment while guaranteeing the desired movements. More importantly, robustness of the control performance is also highly prioritized in consideration of designing a controller for a highly uncertain and nonlinear DAR system. In literature of the modern control theory, sliding mode control (SMC) demonstrates a diverse ability to robustly control any system.