Towel-Like Object Alignment with Human–Robot Cooperation and High-Speed Robotic Manipulation
Summary
In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for robotic
handling of towel-like objects in linen and laun- dry services. One
such task involves picking up a towel randomly and aligning it to a
predetermined position and posture. However, it is difficult for
robots to handle these towel-like flexible objects because
deformation occurs during robotic manipulation, and manipulation
based on estimation of deformation status is rather challenging and
unfeasible for most robotic systems.
As per the below illustration, we propose to realize this task using
a method that combines human–robot cooperation for static
manipulation (grasping) and high-speed robotic motion strategy for
dynamic manipulation (aligning). Specifically, a human worker picks
up a towel and holds it for robot to grasp, and then, the robot
quickly aligns the towel to desired area of the table, using
high-speed motion strategy after grasping the towel. In this manner,
the challenging issue of deformation of the flexible towel-like
object is addressed by human cognition and high-speed motion
strategy. In order to ensure that human workers remain dominant and
safe during the cooperative operation phase, a new hand-arm robotic
system utilizing high-speed actuators and high-speed visual feedback
with a micro-macro configuration is developed.
Movie
Reference
- K. Murakami, S. Huang, H. Sumi, M. Ishikawa and Y. Yamakawa: Towel-Like Object Alignment with Human-Robot Cooperation and High-Speed Robotic Manipulation, 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, pp.772-777 (2018)
