@booklet {2013h-NesRieLaeHarBotRobFra, title = {Interactive Demo: Haptic Remote Control of Multiple UAVs with Autonomous Cohesive Behavior}, howpublished = {Int. Work. on Towards Fully Decentralized Multi-Robot Systems: Hardware, Software and Integration, at 2013 IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation}, year = {2013}, month = {05/2013}, address = {Karlsruhe, Germany}, keywords = {Bilateral Shared Control of Mobile Robots, Connectivity maintenance, Middleware for robotics, UAV hardware platforms}, url = {http://icra2013mrs.tuebingen.mpg.de/}, author = {Thomas Nestmeyer and Martin Riedel and Johannes L{\"a}chele and Simon Hartmann and Fiete Botschen and Paolo Robuffo Giordano and Antonio Franchi} } @booklet {2013i-LaeRieRobFra, title = {SwarmSimX and TeleKyb: Two ROS-integrated Software Frameworks for Single- and Multi-Robot Applications}, howpublished = {Int. Work. on Towards Fully Decentralized Multi-Robot Systems: Hardware, Software and Integration, at 2013 IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation}, year = {2013}, month = {05/2013}, address = {Karlsruhe, Germany}, keywords = {Middleware for robotics, Simulators for robotics}, url = {http://icra2013mrs.tuebingen.mpg.de/}, author = {Johannes L{\"a}chele and Martin Riedel and Paolo Robuffo Giordano and Antonio Franchi} } @conference {2013j-GraRieBueRobFra, title = {The TeleKyb Framework for a Modular and Extendible ROS-based Quadrotor Control}, booktitle = {6th European Conference on Mobile Robots}, year = {2013}, month = {09/2013}, address = {Barcelona, Spain}, abstract = {The free and open source Tele-Operation Platform of the MPI for Biological Cybernetics (TeleKyb) is an end- to-end software framework for the development of bilateral teleoperation systems between human interfaces (e.g., haptic force feedback devices or gamepads) and groups of quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Among drivers for devices and robots from various hardware manufactures, TeleKyb provides a high-level closed-loop robotic controller for mobile robots that can be extended dynamically with modules for state estimation, trajectory planning, processing, and tracking. Since all internal communication is based on the Robot Operating System (ROS), TeleKyb can be easily extended to meet future needs. The capabilities of the overall framework are demonstrated in both an experimental validation of the controller for an individual quadrotor and a complex experimental setup involving bilateral human-robot interaction and shared formation control of multiple UAVs.}, keywords = {Middleware for robotics, UAV hardware platforms}, url = {http://www.ros.org/wiki/telekyb}, attachments = {https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2013j-GraRieBueRobFra-preprint.pdf}, author = {Volker Grabe and Martin Riedel and Heinrich H. B{\"u}lthoff and Paolo Robuffo Giordano and Antonio Franchi} } @conference {2012h-RieFraRobBueSon, title = {Experiments on Intercontinental Haptic Control of Multiple UAVs}, booktitle = {12th Int. Conf. on Intelligent Autonomous Systems}, year = {2012}, month = {06/2012}, pages = {227-238}, address = {Jeju Island, Korea}, abstract = {In this paper we propose and experimentally validate a bilateral teleoperation framework where a group of UAVs are controlled over an unreliable network with typical intercontinental time delays and packet losses. This setting is meant to represent a realistic and challenging situation for the stability the bilateral closed-loop system. In order to increase human telepresence, the system provides the operator with both a video stream coming from the onboard cameras mounted on the UAVs, and with a suitable haptic cue, generated by a force-feedback device, informative of the UAV tracking performance and presence of impediments on the remote site. In addition to the theoretical background, we describe the hardware and software implementation of this intercontinental teleoperation: this is composed of a semi-autonomous group of multiple quadrotor UAVs, a 3-DOF haptic interface, and a network connection based on a VPN tunnel between Germany and South Korea. The whole software framework is based upon the Robotic Operating System (ROS) communication standard.}, keywords = {Bilateral Shared Control of Mobile Robots, Haptics, Middleware for robotics, Multi-robot systems, Teleoperation, UAV hardware platforms}, attachments = {https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2012h-RieFraRobBueSon.pdf , https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2012h-RieFraRobBueSon.mp4}, author = {Martin Riedel and Antonio Franchi and Heinrich H. B{\"u}lthoff and Paolo Robuffo Giordano and Hyoung Il Son} } @booklet {2012q-RieFraBueRob, title = {Intercontinental Haptic Control and Advanced Supervisory Interfaces for Groups of Multiple UAVs}, howpublished = {5th Int. Work. on Human-Friendly Robotics}, year = {2012}, month = {10/2012}, address = {Bruxelles, Belgium}, keywords = {Bilateral Shared Control of Mobile Robots, Middleware for robotics, Motion control of multiple robots, UAV hardware platforms}, author = {Martin Riedel and Heinrich H. B{\"u}lthoff and Antonio Franchi and Paolo Robuffo Giordano} } @article {2012f-FraSecRylBueRob, title = {Shared Control: Balancing Autonomy and Human Assistance with a Group of Quadrotor UAVs.}, journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, Special Issue on Aerial Robotics and the Quadrotor Platform}, volume = {19}, year = {2012}, month = {09/2012}, pages = {57-68}, abstract = {In this paper, we present a complete control framework and associated experimental testbed for the bilateral shared control of a group of quadrotor UAVs. This control architecture is applicable to any task and allows to integrate: i) a decentralized topological motion control (responsible for the mutual interactions in the UAV formation), ii) a human assistance module (allowing human intervention, whenever needed, on some aspects of the UAV group behavior), and iii) a force-feedback possibility (increasing the telepresence of the human assistants by providing suitable haptic cues informative of the UAV behavior). We will show, as worked-out case studies, how to specialize the topological motion controller to the relevant cases of constant, unconstrained and connected group topologies, and how to let a human operator intervening at the level of single UAVs or of the whole group dynamics. A detailed description of the experimental testbed is also provided with emphasis on the quadrotor UAV hardware and software architectures. Finally, the versatility of the proposed framework is demonstrated by means of experiments with real UAVs. Although quadrotors are used as actual robotic platforms, the proposed framework can be straightforwardly extended to many different kinds of UAVs with similar motion characteristics.}, keywords = {Bilateral Shared Control of Mobile Robots, Decentralized control, Force feedback, Formation control, Haptics, Middleware for robotics, Motion control of multiple robots, Multi-robot systems, UAV hardware platforms}, attachments = {https://homepages.laas.fr/afranchi/robotics/sites/default/files/2012f-FraSecRylBueRob-preprint.pdf}, author = {Antonio Franchi and Cristian Secchi and Markus Ryll and Heinrich H. B{\"u}lthoff and Paolo Robuffo Giordano} }