11 accepted papers
This paper describes a method for steering flexible linear objects using two robot hands in environments populated by sparsely spaced obstacles. The approach involves manipulating an elastic inextensible rod by varying the gripping endpoint positions and tangents. Closed form solutions that describe…
This paper describes a method for steering flexible linear objects using two robot hands in environments populated by sparsely spaced obstacles. The approach involves manipulating an elastic inextensible rod by varying the gripping endpoint positions and tangents. Closed form solutions that describe
One of the major disadvantages of drones is their limited flight time. This paper introduces a new concept and mechanism for an onboard system that physically replaces batteries during flight, analogous to “aerial refueling.” This capability allows drones to remain in mid-air indefinitely while purs
One of the most crucial parts of manufacturing is fixing the workpiece. Proper fixturing enables accurate machining, assembly, etching, etc. Most modern fixturing devices are static and difficult to adapt to varying workpieces. This letter introduces a new concept for a fixturing device–the SIMJig–t
Modern robotic grippers are either specialized and simple, complex and general purpose, or soft and compliant hands. The first provide high reliability but are limited in the range of objects they grasp. Compliant or soft grippers can grasp wide ranges of objects, but are not yet reliable enough for
Successful grasping of objects with robotic hands is still considered a difficult task. One aspect of the grasping problem is the physical contact interaction between the robotic fingertips and the object. Friction at the fingertip contacts can improve grasp robustness, but frictional fingertips may
Caging offers a robust strategy for grasping objects with robot hands. This letter describes an efficient caging-to-grasping algorithm for polygonal objects using minimalistic three-finger robot hands. This letter describes how to cage and then grasp polygonal objects, using single actuator triangul
Multifinger caging offers a robust object grasping approach. While efficient computation of two-finger caging grasps is well developed, the computation of three-finger caging grasps has remained a challenging open problem. This letter considers the caging of polygonal objects with three-finger hands
This paper suggests a novel method for a mobile robot to plan its path towards a target through an unknown environment, using sensors to discover new obstacles along the way. The method synthesizes an artificial temperature gradient throughout the known environment by numerically solving the heat co
In this paper we propose an energy control based algorithm for performing swing-up regrasping. In such regrasping motion, an object is manipulated using a robotic arm around a point pinched by the arms gripper. The aim is to manipulate the object from an initial angle to regrasp it on a new desired
A novel algorithm is proposed for offline motion planning of a robotic arm to perform a throw task of an object to reach a goal target. The planning algorithm searches for a throw trajectory that could be performed under kinematic and dynamic (i.e., kinodynamic) constraints. We parameterize the thro…