Winding manipulator based on high-speed visual feedback control

Abstract

Controlling a robot to manipulate objects dexterously is an important research field in robotics. In particular, casting manipulation is a manipulation in which an end effector is attached to a robot, and the robot projects it in order to grasp a distant object. With this technique, manipulation beyond the original operating range of the robot is expected. In research on conventional casting manipulations, modeling of flexible objects manipulated by robots and feedforward control based on parameter identification are the mainstream approaches. In this research, we propose casting manipulation based on high-speed visual feedback control with a whip. We aim to realize object grasping by manipulating the whip with dexterity by utilizing its deformation. The tip speed of the whip is very high, and it is difficult to properly control. Thus, in addition to the trajectory design of the robot arm using the whip as a manipulator, we captured the winding motion of the whip around the object with a high-speed vision system and made use of visual feedback to achieve robust winding of the whip. In the experiment, we constructed a flexible manipulator system consisting of a robot arm, a whip, and a high-speed vision system, and we controlled the trajectory of the robot by visual feedback based on how the whip winds around the object. We confirmed that the whip can successfully be wound around the object.