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Chapter 36 — Motion for Manipulation Tasks

James Kuffner and Jing Xiao

This chapter serves as an introduction to Part D by giving an overview of motion generation and control strategies in the context of robotic manipulation tasks. Automatic control ranging from the abstract, high-level task specification down to fine-grained feedback at the task interface are considered. Some of the important issues include modeling of the interfaces between the robot and the environment at the different time scales of motion and incorporating sensing and feedback. Manipulation planning is introduced as an extension to the basic motion planning problem, which can be modeled as a hybrid system of continuous configuration spaces arising from the act of grasping and moving parts in the environment. The important example of assembly motion is discussed through the analysis of contact states and compliant motion control. Finally, methods aimed at integrating global planning with state feedback control are summarized.

The Mobipulator

Author  Siddhartha Srinivasa et al.

Video ID : 367

The video shows a dual-differential drive robot that uses its wheels for both manipulation and locomotion. The front wheels move objects by vibrating asymmetrically while the rear wheels help to move the robot and the object around the environment.

Handling of a single object by multiple mobile robots based on caster-like dynamics

Author  Yasuhisa Hirata et al.

Video ID : 368

When multiple robots manipulate an object, positional errors due to wheel slippage are the most common problems. To handle this uncertainty, each robot is controlled as if it has caster dynamics. The offset between the friction and wheel axis guide the planning of each robot. This algorithm is general enough to work with robots avoiding obstacles as the object is being manipulated. It can also be extended to 3-D space so that objects can be manipulated in the air by multiple robots.

Rollin’ Justin - Mobile platform with variable base

Author  Christoph Borst et al.

Video ID : 369

The video contains a demonstration of a mobile humanoid robotic system and research platform, called "Rollin' Justin", which is enabled with sophisticated control algorithms and equipped with dexterous manipulation.

Learning to place new objects

Author  Yun Jiang et al.

Video ID : 370

The video shows how to a robot learns to place objects stably in preferred locations. Four different tasks are performed: 1) loading a refrigerator, 2) loading a bookshelf, 3) cleaning a table, and 4) loading dish-racks.