Research

Intelligent Manipulation

In cluttered scenes, and with unknown objects, typical pick and place pipelines are sub-optimal. Assembly and rearrangement tasks require flexible manipulation modes using both prehensile and non-prehensile approaches with multimodal perception.

Intelligent Manipulation
Intelligent Manipulation

Associated Researchers:

Nils Dengler

M.Sc.

Nils Dengler

Ph.D. Student

Benedikt Kreis

M.Sc.

Benedikt Kreis

Ph.D. Student

Rohit Menon

M.Sc.

Rohit Menon

Ph.D. Student

Ahmed Shokry

M.Sc.

Ahmed Shokry

Ph.D. Student

Benno Wingender

M.Sc.

Benno Wingender

Ph.D. Student

RePAIR - Reconstructing the Past: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Meet Cultural Heritage

RePAIR - Reconstructing the Past: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Meet Cultural Heritage

The 'RePAIR' project combines Artificial Intelligence and Robotics with Cultural Heritage to create technology that simplifies the reconstruction of shattered artworks. This innovation aims to address the challenge of piecing together damaged or incomplete ancient artifacts like vases, amphorae, and frescoes, often found in fragments at excavation sites worldwide.

A Robust Placeability Metric for Model-Free Unified Pick-and-Place Reasoning

A Robust Placeability Metric for Model-Free Unified Pick-and-Place Reasoning

B. Wingender, N. Dengler, R. Menon, S. Pan, M. Bennewitz

Arxiv Pre-print, 2026

Pre-Print
Efficient Manipulation-Enhanced Semantic Mapping With Uncertainty-Informed Action Selection

Efficient Manipulation-Enhanced Semantic Mapping With Uncertainty-Informed Action Selection

N. Dengler, J. Mücke, R. Menon, M. Bennewitz

IEEE/RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), 2025

Pre-PrintCodeVideo
Interactive Shaping of Granular Media Using Reinforcement Learning

Interactive Shaping of Granular Media Using Reinforcement Learning

B. Kreis, M. Mosbach, A. Ripke, M. E. Ullah, S. Behnke, M. Bennewitz

IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), 2025

Pre-PrintPublicationCode
Context-Based Meta Reinforcement Learning for Robust and Adaptable Peg-in-Hole Assembly Tasks

Context-Based Meta Reinforcement Learning for Robust and Adaptable Peg-in-Hole Assembly Tasks

A. Shokry, W. Gomaa, Tobias Zaenker, M. Dawood, R. Menon, S. Maged, M. Awad, M. Bennewitz

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2025

Pre-PrintCode
Learning Goal-Directed Object Pushing in Cluttered Scenes with Location-Based Attention

Learning Goal-Directed Object Pushing in Cluttered Scenes with Location-Based Attention

N. Dengler, J. Del Aguila Ferrandis, J. Moura, S. Vijayakumar, M. Bennewitz

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2025

Pre-PrintCodeVideo
Map Space Belief Prediction for Manipulation-Enhanced Mapping

Map Space Belief Prediction for Manipulation-Enhanced Mapping

J.M.C Marques, N. Dengler, T. Zaenker, J. Mücke, S. Wang, M. Bennewitz, K. Hauser

Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS), 2025

Pre-PrintPublicationCodeVideo
Safe Leaf Manipulation for Accurate Shape and Pose Estimation of Occluded Fruits

Safe Leaf Manipulation for Accurate Shape and Pose Estimation of Occluded Fruits

S. Yao, S. Pan, M. Bennewitz, K. Hauser

IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA), 2025

Pre-PrintPublicationCodeVideo
Compact Multi-Object Placement Using Adjacency-Aware Reinforcement Learning

Compact Multi-Object Placement Using Adjacency-Aware Reinforcement Learning

B. Kreis, N. Dengler, J. de Heuvel, R. Menon, H. D. Perur, M. Bennewitz

IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), 2024

Pre-PrintPublicationCodeVideo
HortiBot: An Adaptive Multi-Arm System for Robotic Horticulture of Sweet Peppers

HortiBot: An Adaptive Multi-Arm System for Robotic Horticulture of Sweet Peppers

C. Lenz, R. Menon, M. Schreiber, M.P. Jacob, S. Behnke, M. Bennewitz

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2024

Pre-PrintPublicationCodeVideo
Viewpoint Push Planning for Mapping of Unknown Confined Spaces

Viewpoint Push Planning for Mapping of Unknown Confined Spaces

N. Dengler, S. Pan, V. Kalagaturu, R. Menon, M. Dawood, M. Bennewitz

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2023

Pre-PrintPublicationCodeVideo
Reactive Correction of Object Placement Errors for Robotic Arrangement Tasks

Reactive Correction of Object Placement Errors for Robotic Arrangement Tasks

B. Kreis, R. Menon, B. K. Adinarayan, J. de Heuvel, M. Bennewitz

International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS-18), 2023

Pre-PrintPublicationVideo
Learning Goal-Directed Non-Prehensile Pushing in Cluttered Scenes

Learning Goal-Directed Non-Prehensile Pushing in Cluttered Scenes

N. Dengler, D. Großklaus, M. Bennewitz

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2022

Pre-PrintPublicationCodeVideo

Intelligent Manipulation