Visual Voice Activity Detection (V-VAD) is the task to determine whether a person is speaking, based on images or video footage. It is a central point in Human Computer Interaction, as it is one of the first signals that can indicate that a human is interacting with a computer. Two new big datasets…

In the recent decades, many missions have been undertaken to investigate Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. It’s surface consists of a thick ice crust which covers a deep ocean underneath it. To inspect the ocean a system was conceptualized at DFKI Bremen which would drill through the ice and then depl…

As legged locomotion in nature is very dynamic and rich, this elegant form of locomotion should also be exploited by robots to enable efficient and unrestricted locomotion even on difficult terrain. As a contribution to those efforts, work is to be conducted on the robotic system of a hopping leg on…

Brachiation is a type of locomotion acheived by swinging between branches of trees, employed by monkeys (mostly gibbons). During brachiation, if the next branch is far away such that the gibbon is expected to have a dynamic free flight phase in its motion, this fast motion mode is called ’Fast Brach…

Kolloquium

Kolloquium

Reinforcement learning-based control for robots has been a hot research topic in recent years, as  it  has  demonstrated  potential  advantages  over  traditional  control  methods  for  nonlinear systems, including reduced reliance on model inf…

Air-bearing-based platforms are used to simulate microgravity on earth. Therefore, these platforms can be used to test for example Active Space Debris Removal (ASDR) maneuvers. European Space Agency’s Orbital Robotics and GNC Lab (ORGL) features a 5m ⇥ 9m flat floor. A 130 kg heavy air-bearing platf…

Imaging sonar is commonly used in underwater detection tasks, as it can provide acoustic imaging of underwater environments in low or zero visibility conditions where optical sensors fail. The forward-looking sonar (FLS) is commonly used for monitoring tasks due to its capability of providing an aco…

Long-term autonomous robotic missions, especially in isolated environments, have to cope with various challenges, e.g., limited possibilities for maintenance or recovery in case of failure. Better adaptation of the robot to its environment is therefore the first step towards a more robust behavioura…