Collaborative Research: CPS: Medium: Robotic Perception and Manipulation via Full-Spectral Wireless Sensing
Lead PI:
Yasaman Ghasempour
Abstract

Robotic manipulation and automation systems have received a lot of attention in the past few years and have demonstrated promising performance in various applications spanning smart manufacturing, remote surgery, and home automation. These advances have been partly due to advanced perception capabilities (using vision and haptics) and new learning models and algorithms for manipulation and control. However, state-of-the-art cyber-physical systems remain limited in their sensing and perception to a direct line of sight and direct contact with the objects they need to perceive. The goal of this project is to design, build, and evaluate a cyber-physical system that can sense, perceive, learn, and manipulate far beyond what is feasible using existing systems. To do so, the research will explore the terahertz band, which offers a new sensing dimension by inferring the inherent material properties of objects via wireless terahertz signals and without direct contact. This project will also explore radio-frequency signals that can traverse occlusions. Building on these emerging sensing modalities, the core of the project focuses on developing full-spectrum perception, control, learning, and manipulation tasks. The success of this project will result in CPS system architectures with unprecedented capabilities, enabling fundamentally new opportunities to make robotic manipulation more efficient and allowing robots to perform new complex tasks that have not been possible before.

Performance Period: 06/01/2023 - 05/31/2026
Institution: Princeton University
Sponsor: NSF
Award Number: 2313233