Enhanced household automation through robotic manipulation

General-purpose manipulators are becoming increasingly common in both industrial and academic settings, with the long-term goal of integrating them into household environments to enhance everyday automation. However, existing systems still require significant effort for seamless integration. To demonstrate the potential of advanced household automation, we retrofitted two common household appliances—a robotic vacuum and a tea table—with a 6 DoF manipulator and perception modules. The enhanced robotic vacuum is equipped with purposeful navigation and the ability to remove obstructions, making it more effective in cluttered environments. Meanwhile, the tea table setting showcases a specific task—chess gameplay—highlighting how careful planning can enable successful task execution, even with kinematic constraints.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Electrical & Computer Engr

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Yamsani, Sankalp

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kim, Joohyung

• Robotics
• Automation
• Perception

Statement dc:rights

• © 2023 IEEE. Reprinted, with permission, from Kevin G. Gim et al., ”What if a Vacuum Robot has an Arm?,” 2023 20th International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots (UR), 2023. © 2023 IEEE. Reprinted, with permission, from Kazuki Shin et al., ”Exploring the Capabilities of a General-Purpose Robotic Arm in Chess Gameplay,” 2023 IEEE-RAS 22nd International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), October 2023.

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129646

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F129646