Autonomous Object Manipulation Using a Soft Planar Grasping Manipulator

This article presents the development of an autonomous motion planning algorithm for a soft planar grasping manipulator capable of grasp-and-place operations by encapsulation with uncertainty in the position and shape of the object. The end effector of the soft manipulator is fabricated in one piece...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Katzschmann, Robert Kevin, Rus, Daniela L, Marchese, Andrew Dominic
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108132
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7143-7259
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5473-3566
Description
Summary:This article presents the development of an autonomous motion planning algorithm for a soft planar grasping manipulator capable of grasp-and-place operations by encapsulation with uncertainty in the position and shape of the object. The end effector of the soft manipulator is fabricated in one piece without weakening seams using lost-wax casting instead of the commonly used multilayer lamination process. The soft manipulation system can grasp randomly positioned objects within its reachable envelope and move them to a desired location without human intervention. The autonomous planning system leverages the compliance and continuum bending of the soft grasping manipulator to achieve repeatable grasps in the presence of uncertainty. A suite of experiments is presented that demonstrates the system's capabilities.