A key challenge in intelligent robotics is creating robots that are capable of directly
interacting with the world around them to achieve their goals. The last decade has seen …

In order to robustly perform tasks based on abstract instructions, robots need sophisticated
knowledge processing methods. These methods have to supply the difference between the …

We identify and connect a set of physical properties to 3D models to create a richly-
annotated 3D model dataset with data on physical sizes, static support, attachment surfaces …

Making future autonomous robots capable of accomplishing human-scale manipulation
tasks requires us to equip them with knowledge and reasoning mechanisms. We propose …

Semantic gras** is the problem of selecting stable grasps that are functionally suitable for
specific object manipulation tasks. In order for robots to effectively perform object …

Service robots are expected to play an important role in our daily lives as our companions in
home and work environments in the near future. An important requirement for fulfilling this …

While any grasp must satisfy the gras** stability criteria, good grasps depend on the
specific manipulation scenario: the object, its properties and functionalities, as well as the …

This study shows how understanding of object functionality arises by analyzing objects at
the level of their parts where we focus here on primary tools. First, we create a set of primary …

Semantic maps add to classic robot maps spatially grounded object instances anchored in a
suitable way for knowledge representation and reasoning. They enable a robot to solve …

A robot can feasibly be given knowledge of a set of tools for manipulation activities (eg
hammer, knife, spatula). If the robot then operates outside a closed environment it is likely to …