Dynamic Response Decomposition Method

The main topic of my thesis. Using the natural responses of a mechanical system to generate solutions to new problems.

In tight collaboration with:

Cristiano Alessandro

Gustavo C. Buscaglia

Andrea d'Avella and Mattia Dandola.

Some videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqy9b2xPpdA&list=UUtvGRtBpx27V7VQe3I9h3GQ&index=3&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLZ0pzhBmo0&list=UUtvGRtBpx27V7VQe3I9h3GQ&index=2&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC4oaQnI3kM&list=UUtvGRtBpx27V7VQe3I9h3GQ&index=1&feature=plcp

Solar races in Campo Quijano, Salta, Argentina!

With lots of effort and dedication, young high school students from Campo Quijano, Argentina, every year organize a solar car race. I am looking forward to collaborate wth them!

Armarsi Workshops!

On January 2011 there were two Hands-on workshops on topics related to Robotics and Control. The workshops were in the context of the AMARSi Project (https://www.amarsi-project.eu/) and their were open to the general public.

"Hands-on introduction to Reservoir Computing"

Given by Tim Waegeman, Francis Wyffels and Ken Caluwaerts from Reservoir Lab, Ghent University
They presented a theoretical introduction to Reservoir Computing, an efficient training method for recurrent neural networks. An overview of OGER was given, a python toolbox for rapidly building, training and evaluating modular learning architectures. The emphasis was on practical applications such as time series prediction, speech recognition androbotics.

Online material: http://reslab.elis.ugent.be/seminars/amarsi-workshop-reservoir-computing

"Probabilistic Inference for Motor Control"

given by Gerhard Neumann and Elmar Rückert from the Technische Universität Graz.
They presented a short overview over graphical models, inference in graphical models, message passing, approximate message passing. We applyed the inference in graphical models framework for motor planning.

Online material: here (~6.5 MB)

See more in: AmarsiWorkshopPics

I thank the Swiss MATLAB® office for their support and their presentation.

The information on this page is updated as frequently as possible! Last Update: 01-2011

List of active projects:

• Robot Fish: Wanda X
• Mag-E: Studing actuation for fin based locomotion.
• Quadruped Robot: Expanding the Puppy family

Robot Fish: Wanda X

This project will develop methods for experimental characterization of the hydrodynamics around a novel swimming device developed at the AILab. A spike-based dynamic vision sensor (DVS) will be used to collect data about the motion of the swimming fins and the surrounding water using reflective particles, and methods for tracking the fin and particle motion will be developed. These methods will focus on using the DVS spike events for fast and efficient fin and particle tracking in order to optimize the swimming motion. In this project we will like to show (or even prove) that the exploitation of material properties (elasticity in this case) is a simple way to produce both, behavior diversity and controlability.

If we are lucky we will be able to get even further and produce the first autonomous swimming robot with passive thrust in vortex wakes.

The figures above shows the plattform at is current state. The plates are connected elstically and compliance can be controlled externally.

The first movies using the DVS are ready. Thanks Tobi!

Moving Fins Amplitude 190 Period 2500 ms (Animated GIF aprox. 4MB)

Mag-E: Studing actuation for fin based locomotion.

Questions to answer: Can we move a fin with other actuators than motors? Can we reduce the amount of actuation?

In this incipient work we are studying crazy ways of actuating a fin (a ribbon of elastic material) exploiting resonances in the system to maximize energy transfer form actuator to the fin. Currently we are doing the engineering design (calculating sizes, parts, consumption, costs, etc...) of a magneto-mechanical system.

More info coming soon...

Quadruped Robot: Expanding the Puppy family.

This project aims to understand how can we control and build robots with compliant legs. Though the problem has been around for several years, there are not many robots with this feature. To achieve our goals we are developing models based on the "old friend" SLIP model. We are also improving the Puppy model to allow experiments with different morphology (in particular different legs). As seen in the picture the actual model is strongly enforcing modularity in order to allow rapid reconfiguration and repeated experiments.

If you find this appealing visit our Students Projects section and join us in our effort to unveil the secrets of legged locmotion!

Hibernating projects (due to PhD priorities, unfaithful colleagues, lack of money, etc...)

Self-assembly

During this project I worked on:

1. A 2D simulator with high order solvers for dynamics of multiple units (similar to Molecular Dynamics ).

2. An experimental setup to test my models and units and validate simulations.

This project is finished, however If you are interested in the tools and results do not hesitate to contact me.

Folding Chain

Youtube Video

I was trying to apply the knowledge on hinged dissection to the design of a chain of simple electronic units in order to fold the chain to assembly different working circuits. I studied the combinatorial problem numerically and have some code running on C++ and Matlab to find interesting circuits. Below you can see a snapshot of the result for a chain of 12 unit in a triangular configuration.

Observe that the "shape" triangle is degenerated (there are many triangles, each one given by a configuration of the units), but when we differentiate one unit (the one with VCC and GND) the two triangles are different, the circuit active in each one (dotted white line) makes it obvious. The arrows represent diodes. If you want to know more, please contact me.

Journals

• Salazar, H. R. M. and Carbajal, J. P. (2011). Exploiting the passive dynamics of a compliant leg to develop gait transitions. Physical Review E 83, 066707 [PDF].
• Marco, D. E. E. et al.(2009). An experimental and modelling exploration of the host-sanction hypothesis in legume-rhizobia mutualism. Journal of theoretical biology . http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2009.03.033 [PDF]

Conferences

• Salazar, H. R. M. and Carbajal, J. P. (2011). From Walking to Running a Natural Transition in the SLIP Model Using the Hopping Gait. Int. conf. on Robotics and Biomimetics. IEEE-ROBIO 2011.

• Ziegler, M.; Hoffmann, M.; Carbajal, J.P. & Pfeifer, R. (2011), Varying body stiffness for aquatic locomotion, in 'Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Robotics and Automation (ICRA)'. [PDF]
• N. Kuppuswamy and J.P. Carbajal(2011). Learning a curvature dynamic model of an octopus-inspired soft robot arm using flexure sensors. FET11, The European Future Technologies Conference and Exhibition 2011.
• K. Dermitzakis, J.P. Carbajal and J. H. Marden(2011). Scaling laws in robotics. FET11, The European Future Technologies Conference and Exhibition 2011. 
• J. P. Carbajal and N. Kuppuswamy(2010). Magneto-mechanical actuation model for fin-based locomotion. In Design and Nature V: Comparing Design in Nature with Science and Engineering. http://dx.doi.org/10.2495/DN100331 [PDF][HTML]
• R. Castro and J. P. Carbajal (2010). Interacción con entornos dinámicos usando autómatas celulares (Interaction with dynamic environments using cellular automata). In Actas del Primer Workshop Argentino sobre Videojuegos WAVI (Proceedings of the First Argentinian Workshop in Videogames).  http://eiffel.itba.edu.ar/wavi2010. [PDF]

• Hoffmann, M.; Ziegler, M.  and Carbajal, J.P. (2009). From Locomotion to Cognition. FET09, The European Future Technologies Conference and Exhibition 2009.

In the media (by third parties)

• The Tricky Transition from Walking to Running. The Physics ArXiv Blog 2011 MIT technology review.

This text in:

Español

Lectures

• 2011: "A.I. in our daily life". Class at the Oberstufe Taminatal school. Pfäfers, Swiss.
• 2010: Collaboration in "Mechatronische Systeme". Lecture given by Emanuel Benker - SYNTHES®. DHBW Lörrach (look at the source code section for the material).
• 2010: assistant in "Artificial Life". Lecture given by Ruedi Füchslin. University of Zürich, Spring semester.
• 2009: assistant in "Formale Grundlagen der Informatik II". Lecture given by Rolf Pfeifer. University of Zürich, Fall semester.
• 2009: assistant in "Artificial Life". Lecture given by Ruedi Füchslin. University of Zürich, Spring semester.
• 2008: Assistant in "Neural Networks". Lecture given by Rolf Pfeifer. University of Zürich, Spring semester.
• 2008: Assistant in "Artificial life". Lecture given by Max Lungarella and Daniel Bisig. University of Zürich, Spring semester.
• 2007: Assistant in "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence". Lecture given by Rolf Pfeifer. University of Zürich, Fall semester.

Human resources

• 2011: Supervisor of Licenciado (Bacheor + Master) thesis "Comportamiento Grupal e Información Sensorial" (Group behavior and sensory information) by Ramiro David Castro. Faculty of Mathematics, Astronomy and Physics. National University of Códoba, Argentina. [PDF Spanish]
• 2009: Supervisor of internship  "Desing of controller for a folding robot" by Ashish Cherukuri studying at the Multi-Scale Robotics Lab.
• 2009: Co-supervisor of Bachelor Thesis "Development of a GUI for Self-Assembly Simulator Configuration" by Andri Lareida. University of Zürich, Switzerland.
• 2009: Co-supervisor of Bachelor Thesis "Tunable Springs" by Emanuel Benker. Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, Switzerland [PDF German].
• 2009: Co-supervisor of Master Thesis "Hopf Oscillator with Sensory Feedback
  for Adaptive Robot Locomotion" by Samuel Nüesch. University of Zürich, Switzerland.
• 2007 - 2008: Assistant of final work "Redes Neuronales" by Pablo Flores. National University of Salta, Argentine.
• 2008: Assistant of Facharbeit "Simulation/Visualization of Different Neural Network Paradigms using Matlab" by Philippe Boucard. University of Zürich, Switzerland.

Slides

• 05.2008: Primer on Self-Assembly (4MB pdf).
• 05.2008: Introduction to MATLAB®
• 05.2008: Integration of dynaimcal systems with MATLAB® (very basic) .
• 03.2009: Presentation at EURON09(1.6MB pdf).
• 09.2009: Updated Review on Stochastic Resonance(. UPDATED:10.2010.
• 10.2009: Integration of dynamical systems with MATLAB® (1.9MB pdf with code).
• 05.2010: PhD Progress Report (2.1MB pdf).
• 08.2011: Journal Club: Vogel S. Nature’s Swell, But Is It Worth Copying?(PDF)
  

On-line Teaching

• Assistant in the Physics forum from University of Salta

Code (Commets, support, Bugs? send me an email):

Octave/Matlab:

• Braitenberg vehicle: Simple robot with a controller based on Valentino Braitenberg's ideas.  
  
• Motion Camouflage: Approach a prey keeping bearing constant. Adapted from here.
  

• Home vector: Know how to go back home using only local relative information. Simple dead-reckoning (path integration) inspired by Catagliphysdesert ants.
  
• Nonlinear Frequency Response Functions: The extension of the trasnfer function concept to nonlinear systems by meas of Volterra series. In collaboration with Dr. Zi-Qiang Lang from the university of Sheffield. Reference: doi:10.1016/j.jsv.2006.09.012

Materias

• 2011: "A.I. in our daily life" (La inteligencia artifical en nuestra vida diaria). Clase en la escuela Oberstufe Taminatal.  Pfäfers, Suiza.
• 2010: Colaboracion en "Mechatronische Systeme". Dictada por Emanuel Benker - SYNTHES®. DHBW Lörrach.
• 2010: Asistente en "Artifical life". Dictada por Ruedi Füchslin. Universidad de Zürich, semestre de Primavera.
• 2009: Asistente en "Métodos formales de la computación". Dictada por Rolf Pfeifer. Universidad de Zürich, semestre de Otoño.
• 2009: Asistente en "Artifical life". Dictada por Ruedi Füchslin. Universidad de Zürich, semestre de Primavera.
• 2008: Asistente en "Neural Networks".. Dictada por Rolf Pfeifer. Universidad de Zürich, semestre de Primavera.
• 2008: Asistente en "Artificial life". Dictada por Max Lungarella y Daniel Bisig. Universidad de Zürich, semestre de Primavera.
• 2007: Asistente en "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence"". Dictada por Rolf Pfeifer. Universidad de Zürich, semestre de Otoño.

Recursos humanos

• 2011: Director de la tesis de Licenciado "Comportamiento Grupal e Información Sensorial"por by Ramiro David Castro. Facultad de Matemáticas, Astronomía y Física. Universidad Nacional de Códoba, Argentina.[PDF]
• 2009: Supervisión de la práctica  "Desing of controller for a folding robot"  de Ashish Cherukuri estudiante del Multi-Scale Robotics Lab.
• 2009: Co-supervisión de la tesis de grado "Development of a GUI for Self-Assembly Simulator Configuration" de Andri Lareida. Universidad de Zürich,Suiza.
• 2009: Co-supervisión de la tesis de Magister "Hopf Oscillator with Sensory Feedback for Adaptive Robot Locomotion".Samuel Nüesch. Universidad de Zürich,Suiza.
• 2009: Co-supervisión de la tesis "Tunable Springs". Emanuel Benker. Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, Suiza.
• 2007 - 2008: Asistente en la Tesina "Redes Neuronales". Pablo Flores. Universidad Nacional de Salta.
• 2008: Asistente en la supervision del Facharbeit "Simulation/Visualization of Different Neural Network Paradigms using Matlab". Philippe Boucard. Universidad de Zürich.

Presentaciones

• 05.2008: Introduccion a Self-Assembly (4MB pdf - Inglés) .
• 03.2009: Presentación en EURON09(1.6MB pdf - Inglés)
• 09.2009: Reseña sobre resonancia estocástica(.
• 05.2010: Reporte de progreso de doctorado (2.1MB pdf - Inglés)

Enseñanza On-line

• Asistente en el Forum del taller de Física de la universidad Nacional de Salta

This text in:
Español.

I am Juan Pablo Carbajal. I was born in Argentina, in a beautiful city called Salta (Salta "the beauty"). I studied Physics for two years and a half at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata and then I finished my career at Instituto Balseiro in Bariloche (southern Argentina). It is hard to remember when I got interested in Natural Sciences, but I feel like it was when I was very very young. Around the year 1993, I was introduce to Physics by Daniel Córdoba, a teacher from my home town (currently he is working in relation with the Physics Olympiads). Since then I cannot imagine myself doing anything but science (though many times I was disappointed). While I was in Bariloche I discovered (mistake after mistake) that the kind of Physics I really like is the one we experience in everyday life through our senses. I wont denied that a quantum Hamiltonian makes me drool (:D), but "macroscopic" physics drives me crazy.

Currently I am doing my PhD. at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the University of Zürich. The work environment is excellent and my colleagues are extra-friendly!

• To know more about my personal life, visit my Blog.
• To know more about my academic career, please download a brief Curriculum Vitae.
• To know more about the projects I am working on, go to the Reseach tab in this page or look at my old  Projects' webpage.

Mi nombre es Juan Pablo Carbajal, nací en Argentina, en la linda ciudad de Salta (Salta la linda). Estudié física en la Universidad nacional de La Plata y al finalizar el segundo año de estudio ingresé al Instituto Balseiro, Bariloche (Sur de Argentina). No recuerdo cuando me interesé por las ciencias naturales, pero siento que desde muy muy pequeño. Rondando el año 1993, fuí expuesto a la física por Daniel Córdoba, un buen profe de mi ciudad natal (actualmente vinculado con las Olimpiadas de Física) y desde entonces no puedo imaginarme haciendo otra cosa que no sea ciencia (a pesar de que muchas veces me pelee bien feo con la física).Durante mis años en Bariloche, descubrí (a fuerza de golpes y golpes) que la física que me apasiona es la que se nos presenta día a día a través de nuestros sentidos. Por supuesto que un Hamiltoneano Cuántico me hace agua la boca, pero la física "macroscópica" es la que me vuelve loco.

Actualmente estoy haciendo mi doctorado en el Laboratorio de Inteligencia Artificial de la Universidad de Zürich. El ambiente de trabajo y mis colegas son excepcionales!

• Para conocer más detalles personales puedes visitar mi Blog.
• Para conocer más detalles acádemicos puedes descargar mi Curriculum Vitae.
• Para saber cuales son los proyectos en los que estoy involucrado presiona la solapa Research en esta pagina o visita mi antigua webpage en la sección Proyectos.