Push it to the (demonstrated) limit! To complete difficult tasks with complex contact, our latest work combines a tactile force matching algorithm with imitation learning (IL). PhD candidate Trevor Ablett will present this T-RO work at #ICRA25 tomorrow!
Learn about it: papers.starslab.ca/sts-il/

Just show me what you want, and I'll figure out how to do it...quickly! PhD candidate Trevor Ablett will present Efficient Imitation without Demonstrations via Value-Penalized Auxiliary Control from Examples (VPACE) at #ICRA25 tomorrow!
Check it out: papers.starslab.ca/vpace

Katie Allison will present her work at RoboSoft tomorrow in Session BB (3:15-4:15)!

Get a grip! We present a practical and inexpensive gripper fingerpad design that enables active friction tuning through structured pneumatic deflection of the fingerpad surface. Recent MASc graduate Katie Allison will present this work at RoboSoft 2025 this week!
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2502.00926

We're excited to welcome Phone Thiha Kyaw to our group! Phone wil be working on long-horizon task and motion planning. Prior to joining STARS, he was with Dyson in Sinagpore. Welcome Phone! 👋

Congratulations to Katie Allison for succesfully defending her Master's thesis earlier this year! Katie developed a structured pneumatic fingerpad for robotic grasping that enable tunable grip friction (for next-level in-hand manipulation).
Each fingerpad costs less than 50 cents to make!

Check out "FaVoR: Features via Voxel Rendering for Camera Relocalization" by PhD student Vincenzo Polizzi, presented at #WACV25!

Kudos to collaborators Marco Cannici, @davidescaramuzza.bsky.social and @domo-mr-roboto.bsky.social
youtu.be/rgV8TZzX7qc

In a recent T-RO paper, researchers show how complex manipulation tasks that require both precise reaching and controlled slipping or sliding can benefit from see-through visuotactile sensing.
ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/108...

#RobotSensingSystems #TactileSensor #ImitationLearning