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RI-IWEAR Research Seminar XI

RIIWEAR seminar XI 1000  1414  3
  • Date

    06 Sep 2023

  • Organiser

    RI-IWEAR

  • Time

    09:30 - 10:30

  • Venue

    FJ302 & ZOOM Map  

Speaker

Prof. Zheng Hong (George) ZHU

Enquiry

Ms Manyui LEUNG man-yui.leung@polyu.edu.hk

Remarks

An e-Certificate of attendance will be provided for the participant attended physically. Latecomer or early leaver of the seminar might NOT be eligible for the certificate.

Summary

Autonomous Robotic Capture of Non-Cooperative Space Debris

by Reinforcement Learning based Tactile Feedback Control

Since the first launch of Sputnik in 1957, the population of space debris has grown exponentially and threatened to satellite safety. To mitigate this risk, it is advised to remove five large debris pieces from space annually. Among all suggested removal methods, using robotic manipulators for capturing and removing debris is the most promising. The robotic manipulator, combined with computer vision and tactile sensors, is capable of synchronizing with the translational and angular velocities of the target, grasping and directing it towards Earth's atmosphere. In this work, we introduce a model-free machine-learning approach for a robotic system including a 6DOF manipulator and a 3-finger Robotiq gripper. Within the framework of off-policy reinforcement learning, the tasks of target pose estimation, robotic path planning, and grasping control are conducted using Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient and soft Actor-Critic algorithms. This model is exclusively trained in simulation using the Pybullet environment, eliminating the necessity for experiments or prior task knowledge. The simulation-based training allows us to delve into a broad spectrum of scenarios and conditions, which in turn enables the agent to master a diverse and reliable grasping policy. The anticipated outcome of this approach includes improved performance in real-world grasping tasks, for example, capturing free-floating objects in unstructured environments or objects with uncertain positions and orientations. Finally, we will introduce the development of a hardware-in-the-loop 3D microgravity testbed with dual robotic manipulators and active gravity compensation. 

 

Keynote Speaker

Prof. Zheng Hong (George) ZHU

Prof. Zheng Hong (George) ZHU

Director of the Space Engineering Design Laboratory

Lassonde School of Engineering

Department of Mechanical Engineering

York University

Dr. Zheng Hong (George) Zhu is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and founding Co-Director of the Manufacturing Technology Entrepreneurship Centre at Lassonde School of Engineering, York University in Toronto, Canada. He was the Tier I York Research Chair in Space Technology (2017-2022), served as the inaugural Academic Director of Research Commons (2019-2022) at the Vice-President of Research and Innovation Office, the Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering (2018-2019), and Space Engineering Program Director at the Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering (2009-2012). His research includes the dynamics and control of tethered spacecraft, autonomous space robotics, visual servo, computational control, CubeSat, and additive manufacturing in space. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed journal papers and 160 conference proceedings. Currently, he is the Vice President of International Society of Mechanical Dynamics and the Honorary Treasurer & Board Member of Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Zhu is a Member of the International Academy of Astronautics; College Member of the Royal Society of Canada; Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Canada; Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineering, and Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; and Associate fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Dr. Zhu receives the 2022 York University President’s Research Excellence Award, the 2021 Robert W. Angus Medal from the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering, the 2019 Engineering Medal - R&D from the Professional Engineers Ontario, Canada.    

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