Alert button
Picture for Lorenzo Sabattini

Lorenzo Sabattini

Alert button

MATE robots simplifying my work: benefits and socio-ethical implications

Feb 19, 2018
Valeria Villani, Lorenzo Sabattini, Julia N. Czerniak, Alexander Mertens, Cesare Fantuzzi

Figure 1 for MATE robots simplifying my work: benefits and socio-ethical implications
Figure 2 for MATE robots simplifying my work: benefits and socio-ethical implications
Figure 3 for MATE robots simplifying my work: benefits and socio-ethical implications
Figure 4 for MATE robots simplifying my work: benefits and socio-ethical implications

With the increasing complexity of modern industrial automatic and robotic systems, an increasing burden is put on the operators, who are requested to supervise and interact with very complex systems, typically under challenging and stressful conditions. To overcome this issue, it is necessary to adopt a responsible approach based on the anthropocentric design methodology, such that machines adapt to the humans capabilities, and not vice versa. Moving along these lines, in this paper we consider an integrated methodological design approach, which we call MATE, consisting in devising complex automatic or robotic solutions that measure current operator's status, adapting the interaction accordingly, and providing her/him with proper training to improve the interaction and learn lacking skills and expertise. Accordingly, a MATE system is intended to be easily usable for all users, thus meeting the principles of inclusive design. Using such a MATE system gives rise to several ethical and social implications, which are discussed in this paper. Additionally, a discussion about which factors in the organization of companies are critical with respect to the introduction of a MATE system is presented.

* IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, 2018 
Viaarxiv icon

Interacting With a Mobile Robot with a Natural Infrastructure-Less Interface

Apr 04, 2017
Valeria Villani, Lorenzo Sabattini, Giuseppe Riggio, Alessio Levratti, Cristian Secchi, Cesare Fantuzzi

Figure 1 for Interacting With a Mobile Robot with a Natural Infrastructure-Less Interface
Figure 2 for Interacting With a Mobile Robot with a Natural Infrastructure-Less Interface
Figure 3 for Interacting With a Mobile Robot with a Natural Infrastructure-Less Interface
Figure 4 for Interacting With a Mobile Robot with a Natural Infrastructure-Less Interface

In this paper we introduce a novel approach that enables users to interact with a mobile robot in a natural manner. The proposed interaction system does not require any specific infrastructure or device, but relies on commonly utilized objects while leaving the user's hands free. Specifically, we propose to utilize a smartwatch (or a sensorized wristband) for recognizing the motion of the user's forearm. Measurements of accelerations and angular velocities are exploited to recognize user's gestures and define velocity commands for the robot. The proposed interaction system is evaluated experimentally with different users controlling a mobile robot and compared to the use of a remote control device for the teleoperation of robots. Results show that the usability and effectiveness of the proposed natural interaction system based on the use of a smartwatch provide significant improvement in the human-robot interaction experience.

* Proceedings of the IFAC Wold Congress, 2017  
Viaarxiv icon

Admittance Control Parameter Adaptation for Physical Human-Robot Interaction

Feb 27, 2017
Chiara Talignani Landi, Federica Ferraguti, Lorenzo Sabattini, Cristian Secchi, Cesare Fantuzzi

Figure 1 for Admittance Control Parameter Adaptation for Physical Human-Robot Interaction
Figure 2 for Admittance Control Parameter Adaptation for Physical Human-Robot Interaction
Figure 3 for Admittance Control Parameter Adaptation for Physical Human-Robot Interaction
Figure 4 for Admittance Control Parameter Adaptation for Physical Human-Robot Interaction

In physical human-robot interaction, the coexistence of robots and humans in the same workspace requires the guarantee of a stable interaction, trying to minimize the effort for the operator. To this aim, the admittance control is widely used and the appropriate selection of the its parameters is crucial, since they affect both the stability and the ability of the robot to interact with the user. In this paper, we present a strategy for detecting deviations from the nominal behavior of an admittance-controlled robot and for adapting the parameters of the controller while guaranteeing the passivity. The proposed methodology is validated on a KUKA LWR 4+.

* Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2017 
Viaarxiv icon

Achieving the Desired Dynamic Behavior in Multi-Robot Systems Interacting with the Environment

Feb 19, 2017
Lorenzo Sabattini, Cristian Secchi, Cesare Fantuzzi

Figure 1 for Achieving the Desired Dynamic Behavior in Multi-Robot Systems Interacting with the Environment

In this paper we consider the problem of controlling the dynamic behavior of a multi-robot system while interacting with the environment. In particular, we propose a general methodology that, by means of locally scaling inter-robot coupling relationships, leads to achieving a desired interactive behavior. The proposed method is shown to guarantee passivity preservation, which ensures a safe interaction. The performance of the proposed methodology is evaluated in simulation, over large-scale multi-robot systems.

Viaarxiv icon

Enforcing Biconnectivity in Multi-robot Systems

Aug 08, 2016
Mehran Zareh, Lorenzo Sabattini, Cristian Secchi

Figure 1 for Enforcing Biconnectivity in Multi-robot Systems
Figure 2 for Enforcing Biconnectivity in Multi-robot Systems
Figure 3 for Enforcing Biconnectivity in Multi-robot Systems
Figure 4 for Enforcing Biconnectivity in Multi-robot Systems

Connectivity maintenance is an essential task in multi-robot systems and it has received a considerable attention during the last years. A connected system can be broken into two or more subsets simply if a single robot fails. A more robust communication can be achieved if the network connectivity is guaranteed in the case of one-robot failures. The resulting network is called biconnected. In \cite{Zareh2016biconnectivitycheck}, we presented a criterion for biconnectivity check, which basically determines a lower bound on the third-smallest eigenvalue of the Laplacian matrix. In this paper, we introduce a decentralized gradient-based protocol to increase the value of the third-smallest eigenvalue of the Laplacian matrix, when the biconnectivity check fails. We also introduce a decentralized algorithm to estimate the eigenvectors of the Laplacian matrix, which are used for defining the gradient. Simulations show the effectiveness of the theoretical findings.

* arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1608.02276 
Viaarxiv icon

Decentralized Biconnectivity Conditions in Multi-robot Systems

Aug 07, 2016
Mehran Zareh, Lorenzo Sabattini, Cristian Secchi

Figure 1 for Decentralized Biconnectivity Conditions in Multi-robot Systems
Figure 2 for Decentralized Biconnectivity Conditions in Multi-robot Systems

The network connectivity in a group of cooperative robots can be easily broken if one of them loses its connectivity with the rest of the group. In case of having robustness with respect to one-robot-fail, the communication network is termed biconnected. In simple words, to have a biconnected network graph, we need to prove that there exists no articulation point. We propose a decentralized approach that provides sufficient conditions for biconnectivity of the network, and we prove that these conditions are related to the third smallest eigenvalue of the Laplacian matrix. Data exchange among the robots is supposed to be neighbor-to-neighbor.

Viaarxiv icon