Robotic manipulation of objects using external contacts
AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorsNikhil Chavan Dafle, Alberto Rodriguez Garcia
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Abstract
Embodiments Embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods for manipulating the position and/or orientation of an object while it is held in a robotic gripper. In one such embodiment, one or more physically possible and stable displacements for moving an object relative to a gripper using one or more frictional pushes may be determined and applied to the object to move the object from a first position and orientation to a second position and orientation while the object is held by the gripper. In certain embodiments, the physically possible and stable displacements may be determined using an appropriate motion cone approximation.
Claims51
A method for manipulating an object held in a gripper, comprising:
- determining a set of physically possible and stable displacements for moving the object relative to the gripper using a frictional push applied to the object while the object is held by the gripper;
- and
- applying a displacement to the object relative to the gripper according to one of the set of physically possible and stable displacements using the frictional push.
A method for manipulating an object held in a gripper from a first position to a second position relative to the gripper, the method comprising:
- planning each displacement of a sequence of displacements for the object relative to the gripper, wherein the planning of each displacement comprises:
- determining a set of physically possible and stable displacements for moving the object relative to the gripper using a frictional push applied to the object based at least on a current position and orientation of the object relative to the gripper within the sequence;
- selecting a displacement of the object relative to the gripper according to one of the set of physically possible and stable displacements;
- adding the selected displacement to the sequence of displacements;
- and
- executing the sequence of displacements such that the object moves from the first position to the second position by applying a sequence of frictional pushes to the object while the object is held by the gripper.
The method of claim 19, wherein the act of generating the motion cone is determined responsive to one or more parameters comprising gravity, a mass of the object, a coefficient of friction between the gripper and the object, a coefficient of friction between the object and the pusher, and/or a current position and orientation of the object relative to the gripper.
The method of claim 23, wherein executing the sequence of displacements further comprises varying a force exerted by the gripper on the object during at least one of the sequence of displacements.
A system for manipulating an object held in a gripper, comprising:
- an actuator configured to control motion of the gripper;
- a processing unit in communication with the actuator, wherein the processing unit is configured to:
- determine a set of physically possible and stable displacements for moving the object relative to the gripper using a frictional push applied to the object;
- and
- direct the actuator to apply a displacement to the object relative to the gripper according to one of the set of physically possible and stable displacements using the frictional push while the object is held by the gripper.
A system for manipulating an object held in a gripper, comprising:
- an actuator configured to control motion of the gripper;
- a processing unit in communication with the actuator, wherein the processing unit is configured to:
- plan each displacement of a sequence of displacements for the object relative to the gripper, wherein to plan each displacement the processing unit is further configured to:
- determine a set of physically possible and stable displacements for moving the object relative to the gripper using a frictional push applied to the object based at least on a current position and orientation of the object relative to the gripper within the sequence;
- select a displacement of the object relative to the gripper according to one of the set of physically possible and stable displacements;
- and
- add the selected displacement to the sequence of displacements;
- and
- direct the actuator to apply the sequence of displacements to the object relative to the gripper using the frictional push while the object is held by the gripper.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.