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Home: About Me
Publications

Published Work

In the pipeline

 

 

[J8]  S. Sarabandi, J.M. Porta, and F. Thomas, “A Computationally-Efficient Closed-Form Solution to the Hand-Eye Calibration Problem”,

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[C8]  J. Wu, S. Sarabandi, Y. Zhu, H. Huang, R. Geng, F. Thomas and Ming Liu,” Completely Rational SO(n) Orthonormalization”

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[C7]  S. Sarabandi, Q. Lu, G. Chen, H. Wang, and N. Rojas,” In-Hand Manipulation with Soft Fingertips”, 

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[J9]  S. Sarabandi and F. Thomas, "On Closed-Form Formulas for the 3D Nearest Rotation Matrix Problem" 

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2021

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[J8]  S. Sarabandi and F. Thomas, "Approximating Displacements in R^3 by Rotations in R^4 and its Application to Pointcloud Registration",

      IEEE Transactions on Robotics

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[J7]  S. Sarabandi, and F. Thomas, "A Spectral Decomposition Approach to the Robust Conversion of 4D Rotation Matrices to Double Quaternions"​

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[J6]  S. Sarabandi, and F. Thomas, "The 4D nearest rotation matrix problem"

 

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[J5]  Jin Wu, Soheil Sarabandi, Josep M Porta, Ming Liu, and Federico Thomas. Yet a better closed-form formula for the 3d nearest rotation

       matrix problem. Technical report, Institut de Robòtica i InformàticadIndustrial, Barcelona, Spain, 10 2021

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2020

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[J4]  S. Sarabandi, A. Shabani, J.M. Porta, and F. Thomas,” On Closed-Form Formulas for the 3D Nearest Rotation  Matrix Problem,” IEEE     

       Transactions on Robotics, Vol. 36, No. 4, pp. 1333-1339, 2020.

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[T1]   S. Sarabandi,”Solving the Nearest Rotation Matrix Problem in Three and Four Dimensions with Applications in Robotics”, PhD  thesis,          Technical University of Catalonia

 

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2019

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[C6]  A. Shabani, S. Sarabandi, J.M. Porta, and F. Thomas, "A Fast Branch-and-Prune Algorithm for the Position Analysis of Spherical       

        Mechanisms," In: Uhl T. (eds) Advances in Mechanism and Machine Science. IFToMM WC 2019. Mechanisms and Machine Science, Vol 73, 

        pp 549-558, Springer, Cham, 2019.

 

[J3] S. Sarabandi, A. Pérez-Gracia, and F. Thomas, "On Cayley's Factorization with an Application to the Orthonormalization of Noisy Rotation 

        Matrices," Advances in Applied Clifford Algebras, pp. 29-49, July 2019.

 

[J2]  S. Sarabandi and F. Thomas, "A Survey on the Computation of Quaternions from Rotation Matrices," ASME Journal of Mechanisms and 

        Robotics, Vol. 11, No. 2, 021006, 2019 .

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2018

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[C5] S. Sarabandi and F. Thomas, "Accurate Computation of Quaternions from Rotation Matrices," Proc. of the 16th International Symposium 

        on Advances in Robot Kinematics, Bologna, Italy., 1-4 July, 2018.

 

[C4]  S. Sarabandi, P. Grosch, J.M. Porta, and F. Thomas, "A Reconfigurable Asymmetric 3-UPU Parallel Robot," 4th IEEE/IFToMM Int. Conf. on

        Reconfigurable Mechanisms & Robots, Delft, The Netherlands, 20-22 June, 2018

 

[C3]  S. Sarabandi, A. Pérez-Gracia, and F. Thomas, "Singularity-Free Computation of Quaternions from Rotation Matrices in E4 and E3," 7th               Conference on Applied Geometric Algebras in Computer Science and Engineering (AGACSE 2018), Campinas, Brazil, 23-27 July, 2018.

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C2]  J.M. Porta, S. Sarabandi, and F. Thomas, "Angle-Bound Smoothing with Applications in Kinematics," IFToMM Asian Mechanism and

         Machine Science (Asian MMS 2018), Bengaluru, India, December 17-20, 2018

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2017

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[J1]  S.Sarabandi, H.Soleimani, S.Mahmoudi , ''The 3-D Finite Element Analysis of Press Fitting Process in Railway Wheel-Set'', Scientia Iranica 

        international journal of Science & Technology, Vol 24, pp.1-30, 2017. 

 

[C1]  S.Sarabandi and J.R.Pajand, ''Design and Manufacture of a CNC Composite Tape laying Machine'', 13th Iranian Conference on

        Manufacturing Engineering'', Hormozgan, Iran, October 2017.

Home: Courses

Technical Certificates

2014

  • Proteus, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad,(Grade, A qualitative assessment: very good)

  • Atmel/AVR studio,  Ferdowsi University of Mashhad( Grade, A qualitative assessment: very good)

2013

  • Advanced Catia, University of Birjand, ( Grade, A qualitative assessment: very good)

  • Abaques, University of Birjand, ( Grade, A qualitative assessment:  good)

2012

  • CNC Milling, Iran Technical & Vocational Training Organization (GPA 84/100)

  • Spark Machining, Iran Technical & Vocational Training Organization (GPA 82/100)

  • Catia, Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR)(GPA 87.5/100)

2011

  • CNC Lathe work, Iran Technical & Vocational Training Organization (GPA 84/100)

  • Building Electrician, Iran Technical & Vocational Training Organization (GPA 79/100)

  • Ansys, , Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR) ( Grade, A qualitative assessment: very good)

2010

  • Auto CAD, Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR)(GPA 93/100)

Projects

Projects

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The "María de Maeztu" scientific excellence seal has been awarded to IRI by the Spanish State Research Agency for the period 01/07/2017-30/06/2021.

SPECIFIC SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES AND PRIORITIES

The concept of “María de Maeztu” is meant to include the many different situations in which robots are in close contact and interact with humans. These include, but is not limited to, social robotics with significant human-robot interaction, collaborative robotics in which humans and robots work together to achieve a common task, or assistive robotics in which robotic technologies are exploited to help the elderly or the impaired. The 7 key core challenges identified apply to all these domains, and translate into this 7 Specific Scientific Objectives of significant relevance and novelty:

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  • Emphatic natural human robot interaction and collaboration: Robots need to be accessible to the non-expert. Research is needed to find ways to allow a robot to interact with people in a natural and intuitive way, combining multiple sensing modalities to understand gestures, and to produce socially acceptable gestures and motion. Moreover, research is needed to develop models of robot behavior that guarantee that a task can be completed in cooperation with a human, understanding and anticipating human intentions, being a true collaborator.
     

  • Robust localization and mapping: Localization and mapping is a key component of any assistive robotics solution, and it is perhaps one of the most studied topics in robotics. Whereas there is today a general consensus on the mathematical formulation of the problem and on the computational tools needed for its solution, the objective now is to provide robustness, reliability, and scalability.
     

  • Dexterous textile manipulation: Textile manipulation would open a whole range of possibilities, from increased autonomy of the elderly, to housekeeping or industrial applications. In our approach to the problem, we seek to develop a theory of cloth manipulation using tools from computational topology and machine learning, and to develop the adequate end effectors and tools to handle cloth with dexterity.
     

  • Robot learning using natural communication: A new paradigm for robot learning will be studied. Exploiting recent advances in the area of visual object recognition, natural language processing, and their combination by means of machine learning tools, we seek to advance the way a human can instruct a robot using solely natural language and standard gestures.
     

  • Energy supply and optimization: Energy autonomy is also a key factor for the penetration of robust mobile systems in assistive robotics applications. We seek to develop an innovative fuel cell system tailored to assistive robotics applications with improved efficiency, reliability and lifetime, addressing the problems of space (high energy density) and weight (high specific energy). Additionally, we seek to explore the possibility of obtaining the fuel (hydrogen or hydrogen rich compounds) from different alternative means.
     

  • Supervision and control of complex dynamic systems: Robots need to react in real time and reliable alongside humans. Hence, the objective is to work on controllers that can change parameters in real time, efficiently handle constraints and disturbances, and detect faults and reconfigure to maintain functionality.
     

  • Ethical, regulatory and philosophical aspects of social robotics: Many risks and regulatory issues still need to be resolved prior to the deployment of helper robots. These issues have passed until now overwhelmingly unattended, concentrating research efforts in developing the technologies and the prototypes, but they can no longer be obviated. A collaborative effort with experts in legal frontiers of technology and privacy issues will be pursued, as well as with experts that can analyze the ethical perspective.

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The "KINODYN" has been awarded to IRI by the Spanish State Research Agency for the period 01/01/2018-30/09/2021.


The objective of this project is to investigate how energy-efficient and agile robot motions can be planned and executed in an efficient and reliable way. While robot movements are usually rigid and stereotyped, our aim is to make them more graceful. This does not mean to avoid jagged movements by simply smoothing the trajectory, but to adapt each movement to the natural frequency of the robot parts and manipulated objects, taking advantage of gravity, inertia, and centripetal forces, and thus reducing the internal forces and global effort of the robot.

A departing hypothesis is the realisation that such motions can only be generated by (1) taking the full robot dynamics into account, and (2) making an optimal use of the limited power, energy, and strength capacities of the robot equipment. To a large extent, this calls for offloading lower-level control loops in their task to achieve feasible, conservative motions, transferring part of their duty to higher-level motion planners that, by considering the full robot dynamics, are able to achieve graceful natural motions compliant with motor torque, energy storage, or material resistance limitations. A second hypothesis is the observation that there are new computational tools from motion planning, numerical continuation, differential geometry, multibody dynamics, and robot singularity theory, that can be employed to devise a high-level motion planner taking all such limitations into account.

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The "KINODYN+: Synthesis of Optimally Agile and Graceful Robot Motions" has been awarded to IRI by the Spanish State Research Agency for the period 01/09/2021-31/08/2024.

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Currently, robotics is experiencing a change in trend from specialized industrial robots, designed to perform repetitive operations on a routine basis, towards lighter and more versatile robots, increasingly integrated into our daily lives, sharing our familiar environments, and interacting with us. This change brings a new way of thinking about how robots should work. In an industrial setting, the tasks assigned to robots are perfectly defined and take place in a completely known and absolutely controlled environment. In this context, practically nothing is left to improvisation. In contrast, a robot operating in a human context lacks an exact model of the environment, which is only partially known and is subject to unexpected changes. Since the situation is unknown in advance, it is not possible to make a precise plan for the robots actions, so a margin of action must be left so that the robot can react appropriately to the current situation, behaving safely and efficiently.

Our departing hypothesis is that robots that operate in human environments must possess two specific qualities that we refer to as agility and gracefulness. By agility we understand the ability of the robot to rapidly change its course of action, which may involve changes in its speed, configuration, or mode of operation. Agility is crucial to respond in time to events that need a quick reaction. On the other hand, gracefulness is a desirable property for a robot that must interact with humans, since graceful behavior tends to avoid intense forces or sudden accelerations that could harm a human or the objects it manipulates. Gracefulness also tends to produce robotic behaviors that humans perceive as natural, thus increasing our confidence and ease of interaction with the robot.

In this project, we propose to formalize the concepts of agility and gracefulness in a quantitative way and to develop a trajectory optimizer capable of producing agile and graceful motions compatible with all the kinematic and dynamic constraints of the robot; that is to say, avoiding collisions and respecting joint bounds and limitations in the forces that the actuators can exert. Given an initial feasible trajectory, the optimizer has to improve it according to the selected cost function while still satisfying the aforementioned constraints. In particular, the proposed optimizer should be able to tackle tasks with (1) serial robots, (2) parallel robots and, in general, closed kinematic chains of any topology, and (3) fixed or mobile robots of any type manipulating a known load, all of them in environments with or without gravity.

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Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial, CSIC-UPC.
Parc Tecnològic de Barcelona. C/ Llorens i Artigas 4-6,
08028, Barcelona, Spain

©2018 by soheil.sarabandi.

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Bio

Soheil Sarabndi was born in Zahedan, Iran. He has a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering (2013) and a M.Sc. in Applied Solid Mechanics (2016) from Ferdowsi University Mashhad, Iran. He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, under the supervision of Prof. Federico Thomas, in 2021 from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain. He also visited the REDS Lab at the Imperial College London, as a short-term research scholar. Currently, he joined Research Center E. Piaggio as a Postdoctoral researcher. His current research areas include Kinematics and Robot Design, Manipulation, and Geometric Registration.

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