https://omerkurkutlu.github.io/tags/robot-manipulation/Robot ManipulationHugoBlox Kit (https://hugoblox.com)en-usThu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://omerkurkutlu.github.io/media/icon_hu_eee4a95885829ab2.pnghttps://omerkurkutlu.github.io/tags/robot-manipulation/https://omerkurkutlu.github.io/projects/tunnel-robot/Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://omerkurkutlu.github.io/projects/tunnel-robot/<h2 id="overview">Overview</h2> <p>The Autonomous Tunnel Burrowing Robot is an intelligent robotic excavation platform designed to autonomously construct underground tunnels based on user-defined dimensions. The system combines a mobile robot, a gantry-mounted robotic arm, environmental perception, and autonomous planning to perform excavation tasks in challenging environments.</p> <p>This project was developed during my research at the University of Notre Dame under the supervision of <strong>Dr. Yasemin Ozkan Aydin</strong>.</p> <h2 id="motivation">Motivation</h2> <p>Underground construction is often dangerous, labor-intensive, and difficult to automate. This project explores how autonomous robotics can improve safety, precision, and efficiency in tunnel excavation by integrating perception, manipulation, and autonomous decision-making.</p> <h2 id="key-features">Key Features</h2> <ul> <li>Autonomous tunnel excavation</li> <li>Mobile robotic platform</li> <li>Gantry-mounted robotic manipulator</li> <li>User-defined tunnel generation</li> <li>ROS and Gazebo simulation</li> <li>Sim-to-real deployment</li> <li>Soil interaction analysis</li> <li>Autonomous task execution</li> </ul> <h2 id="hardware">Hardware</h2> <ul> <li>Custom mobile robot</li> <li>Gantry robotic arm</li> <li>Intel RealSense Depth Camera</li> <li>Torque sensor</li> <li>Custom excavation end-effectors</li> </ul> <h2 id="software">Software</h2> <ul> <li>ROS</li> <li>Gazebo</li> <li>Python</li> <li>C++</li> <li>OpenCV</li> <li>Point Cloud Processing</li> <li>Robot Manipulation</li> </ul> <h2 id="research-contributions">Research Contributions</h2> <p>This project investigates:</p> <ul> <li>Autonomous excavation planning</li> <li>Robot manipulation for construction tasks</li> <li>Perception using depth cameras</li> <li>Soil interaction analysis</li> <li>Sim-to-real robotic deployment</li> <li>Autonomous navigation during excavation</li> </ul> <h2 id="experimental-evaluation">Experimental Evaluation</h2> <p>The system was evaluated using multiple excavation scenarios with different soil conditions and interchangeable digging tools. Both simulation and real-world experiments demonstrated reliable autonomous excavation and tunnel generation.</p> <h2 id="future-work">Future Work</h2> <p>Future research directions include:</p> <ul> <li>Learning-based excavation strategies</li> <li>Vision-language robot control</li> <li>Multi-robot cooperative excavation</li> <li>Foundation models for autonomous construction robotics</li> </ul> <h2 id="project-status">Project Status</h2> <p><strong>Status:</strong> ✅ Completed Research Project</p>