In-hand recognition and manipulation of elastic objects using a servo-tactile control strategy

Grasping and manipulating objects with robotic hands depend largely on the features of the object to be used. Especially, features such as softness and deformability are crucial to take into account during the manipulation tasks. Indeed, positions of the fingers and forces to be applied by the robot hand when manipulating an object must be adapted to the caused deformation. For unknown objects, a previous recognition stage is usually needed to get the features of the object, and the manipulation strategies must be adapted depending on that recognition stage. To obtain a precise control in the manipulation task, a complex object model is usually needed and performed, for example using the Finite Element Method. However, these models require a complete discretization of the object and they are time-consuming for the performance of the manipulation tasks. For that reason, in this paper a new control strategy, based on a minimal spring model of the objects, is presented and used for the control of the robot hand. This paper also presents an adaptable tactile-servo control scheme that can be used in in-hand manipulation tasks of deformable objects. Tactile control is based on achieving and maintaining a force value at the contact points which changes according to the object softness, a feature estimated in an initial recognition stage.Research supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy, European FEDER funds, the Valencia Regional Government and University of Alicante, through projects DPI2012-32390, DPI2015-68087-R, PROMETEO/2013/085 and GRE 15-05

Locking-Proof Tetrahedra

The simulation of incompressible materials suffers from locking when using the standard finite element method (FEM) and coarse linear tetrahedral meshes. Locking increases as the Poisson ratio gets close to 0.5 and often lower Poisson ratio values are used to reduce locking, affecting volume preservation. We propose a novel mixed FEM approach to simulating incompressible solids that alleviates the locking problem for tetrahedra. Our method uses linear shape functions for both displacements and pressure, and adds one scalar per node. It can accommodate nonlinear isotropic materials described by a Young\u27s modulus and any Poisson ratio value by enforcing a volumetric constitutive law. The most realistic such material is Neo-Hookean, and we focus on adapting it to our method. For , we can obtain full volume preservation up to any desired numerical accuracy. We show that standard Neo-Hookean simulations using tetrahedra are often locking, which, in turn, affects accuracy. We show that our method gives better results and that our Newton solver is more robust. As an alternative, we propose a dual ascent solver that is simple and has a good convergence rate. We validate these results using numerical experiments and quantitative analysis

Flexible Simulation of Deformable Models Using Discontinuous Galerkin FEM

Kaufmann P, Martin S, Botsch M, Gross M. Flexible Simulation of Deformable Models Using Discontinuous Galerkin FEM. In: ACM SIGGRAPH / Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation. 2008: 105-115

Robust interactive simulation of deformable solids with detailed geometry using corotational FEM

This thesis focuses on the interactive simulation of highly detailed deformable solids modelled with the Corotational Finite Element Method. Starting from continuum mechanics we derive the discrete equations of motion and present a simulation scheme with support for user-in-the-loop interaction, geometric constraints and contact treatment. The interplay between accuracy and computational cost is discussed in depth, and practical approximations are analyzed with an emphasis on robustness and efficiency, as required by interactive simulation. The first part of the thesis focuses on deformable material discretization using the Finite Element Method with simplex elements and a corotational linear constitutive model, and presents our contributions to the solution of widely reported robustness problems in case of large stretch deformations and finite element degeneration. First,we introduce a stress differential approximation for quasi-implicit corotational linear FEM that improves its results for large deformations and closely matches the fullyimplicit solution with minor computational overhead. Next, we address the problem ofrobustness and realism in simulations involving element degeneration, and show that existing methods have previously unreported flaws that seriously threaten robustness and physical plausibility in interactive applications. We propose a new continuous-time approach, degeneration-aware polar decomposition, that avoids such flaws and yields robust degeneration recovery. In the second part we focus on geometry representation and contact determination for deformable solids with highly detailed surfaces. Given a high resolution closed surface mesh we automatically build a coarse embedding tetrahedralization and a partitioned representation of the collision geometry in a preprocess. During simulation, our proposed contact determination algorithm finds all intersecting pairs of deformed triangles using a memory-efficient barycentric bounding volume hierarchy, connects them into potentially disjoint intersection curves and performs a topological flood process on the exact intersection surfaces to discover a minimal set of contact points. A novel contact normal definition is used to find contact point correspondences suitable for contact treatment.Aquesta tesi tracta sobre la simulació interactiva de sòlids deformables amb superfícies detallades, modelats amb el Mètode dels Elements Finits (FEM) Corotacionals. A partir de la mecànica del continuu derivem les equacions del moviment discretes i presentem un esquema de simulació amb suport per a interacció d'usuari, restriccions geomètriques i tractament de contactes. Aprofundim en la interrelació entre precisió i cost de computació, i analitzem aproximacions pràctiques fent èmfasi en la robustesa i l'eficiència necessàries per a la simulació interactiva. La primera part de la tesi es centra en la discretització del material deformable mitjançant el Mètode dels Elements Finits amb elements de tipus s'implex i un model constituent basat en elasticitat linial corotacional, i presenta les nostres contribucions a la solució de problemes de robustesa àmpliament coneguts que apareixen en cas de sobreelongament i degeneració dels elements finits. Primer introduïm una aproximació dels diferencials d'estress per a FEM linial corotacional amb integració quasi-implícita que en millora els resultats per a deformacions grans i s'apropa a la solució implícita amb un baix cost computacional. A continuació tractem el problema de la robustesa i el realisme en simulacions que inclouen degeneració d'elements finits, i mostrem que els mètodes existents presenten inconvenients que posen en perill la robustesa plausibilitat de la simulació en aplicacions interactives. Proposem un enfocament nou basat en temps continuu, la descomposició polar amb coneixement de degeneració, que evita els inconvenients esmentats i permet corregir la degeneració de forma robusta. A la segona part de la tesi ens centrem en la representació de geometria i la determinació de contactes per a sòlids deformables amb superfícies detallades. A partir d'una malla de superfície tancada construím una tetraedralització englobant de forma automàtica en un preprocés, i particionem la geometria de colisió. Proposem un algorisme de detecció de contactes que troba tots els parells de triangles deformats que intersecten mitjançant una jerarquia de volums englobants en coordenades baricèntriques, els connecta en corbes d'intersecció potencialment disjuntes i realitza un procés d'inundació topològica sobre les superfícies d'intersecció exactes per tal de descobrir un conjunt mínim de punts de contacte. Usem una definició nova de la normal de contacte per tal de calcular correspondències entre punts de contacte útils per al seu tractament.Postprint (published version

Efficient Deformations Using Custom Coordinate Systems

Physics-based deformable object simulations have been playing an increasingly important role in 3D computer graphics. They have been adopted for humanoid character animations as well as special effects such as fire and explosion. However, simulations of large, complex systems can consume large amounts of computation and mostly remain offline, which prohibits their use for interactive applications.We present several highly efficient schemes for deformable object simulation using custom spatial coordinate systems. Our choices span the spectrum of subspace to full space and both Lagrangian and Eulerian viewpoints.Subspace methods achieve massive speedups over their “full space” counterparts by drastically reducing the degrees of freedom involved in the simulation. A long standing difficulty in subspace simulation is incorporating various non-linearities. They introduce expensive computational bottlenecks and quite often cause novel deformations that are outside the span of the subspace.We address these issues in articulated deformable body simulations from a Lagrangian viewpoint. We remove the computational bottleneck of articulated self-contact handling by deploying a pose-space cubature scheme, a generalization of the standard “cubature” approximation. To handle novel deformations caused by arbitrary external collisions, we introduce a generic approach called subspace condensation, which activates full space simulation on the fly when an out-of-basis event is encountered. Our proposed frameworkefficiently incorporates various non-linearities and allows subspace methods to be used in cases where they previously would not have been considered.Deformable solids can interact not only with each other, but also with fluids. Wedesign a new full space method that achieves a two-way coupling between deformable solids and an incompressible fluid where the underlying geometric representation is entirely Eulerian. No-slip boundary conditions are automatically satisfied by imposing a global divergence-free condition. We are able to simulate multiple solids undergoing complex, frictional contact while simultaneously interacting with a fluid. The complexity of the scenarios we are able to simulate surpasses those that we have seen from any previous method

Real-time hybrid cutting with dynamic fluid visualization for virtual surgery

It is widely accepted that a reform in medical teaching must be made to meet today's high volume training requirements. Virtual simulation offers a potential method of providing such trainings and some current medical training simulations integrate haptic and visual feedback to enhance procedure learning. The purpose of this project is to explore the capability of Virtual Reality (VR) technology to develop a training simulator for surgical cutting and bleeding in a general surgery

Déformation et découpe interactive de solides à géométrie complexe

Cette thèse consiste à explorer une nouvelle approche pour la simulation d'objets flexibles par la mécanique des milieux continus, dans le cadre d'applications graphiques interactives telles que le jeu vidéo ou l'entraînement aux gestes chirurgicaux. Elle s'inscrit en continuité d'un stage de M2-R sur ce même sujet. Il est important de pouvoir régler simplement un compromis entre précision et temps de calcul suivant la nature de l'application. Les approches actuelles de simulation utilisent principalement la méthode des éléments finis. Celle-ci repose sur un maillage volumique des objets qu'il est souvent difficile d'adapter dynamiquement aux besoins de l'application. La nouveauté introduite par cette thèse est d'utiliser des repères déformables comme primitives cinématiques, avec des champs de déplacements inspirés des méthodes de 'skinning' utilisées en informatique graphique. Le but est d'éviter ainsi les difficultés liées au maillage volumique, ainsi que de faciliter le raffinement et la simplification adaptatives par simple ajout ou suppression de repère déformable là où c'est souhaitable. Ce travail est financé par le projet européen 'Passport for Virtual Surgery', dont le but est de créer automatiquement des modèles physiques pour l'entraînement aux gestes de chirurgie hépatique, à partir de données médicales et anatomiques personnalisées. Dans ce contexte, Guillaume, en collaboration avec d'autres membres du projet, mettra en place les outils nécessaires pour construire la scène physique à partir d'images médicales segmentées et de connaissances anatomiques génériques. Le foie sera dans un premier temps représenté par des modèles physiques précédemment développés à EVASION et étendus aux opérations de découpe. Par la suite, il y appliquera son nouveau modèle mécanique basé sur des repères déformables. The aim of this thesis is to develop a new approach for the simulation of flexible objects based on the continous middle method, related with interactive graphics applications such as video games or training in surgery. It is a continuity of the M2 research internship on the same topic. It is important to simply settle a compromise between accuracy and time computing according to the application. Current simulation approaches mainly use the finite element method, which is based on a volumetric mesh of the simulated objects. It is often difficult to dynamically adapt the needs to the application. The novelty of this thesis is to use deformable reference frames as kinematic primitives, with displacement fields based on 'skinning' methods used in computer graphics. The aim is to avoid the difficulties associated with volumetric mesh, and make the refinement and the adaptive simplification easier by adding or deleting deformable reference frames if necessary. This work is funded by the European project 'Passport for Virtual Surgery', which aims to automatically create models for physical training in gestures of liver surgery, from medical and anatomical custom data. In this context, Guillaume, in collaboration with other members of the project, will develop the tools necessary to build the physical scene from segmented medical images and generic anatomical knowledge. The liver will initially be represented by physical models previously developed in the EVASION team and then extended to cutting operations. Thereafter, Guillaume will apply his new mechanical model based on deformable reference frames.Physically based deformable models have become ubiquitous in computer graphics. It allow to synthetize real behaviors, based on the physical laws from continuum mechanics. In this thesis, we focus on interactive simulations such as to video games or surgical simulators. The majority of the existing works focused up to here on the animation of objects made of homogeneous materials. Nevertheless, plenty of real objects, for instance like the biological structures, consist of multiple imbricated materials. Their decomposition in homogeneous zones requires a high-resolution spatial discretization to solve the variations of the material properties, which requires prohibitive computation time. In this context, we present new real time simulation techniques for deformable objects which can be cut. First of all, we present a real time method for cutting deformable objects in which, contrary to the previous methods, the object deforms on the cutting tool contact and cuts occur only when the pressure reaches a certain level. The independence of the physical, collision and visual models makes the topological changes easier. The GPU computing and local modifications enable fast execution. Then, a dynamic meshless method is described, which uses reference frames as control nodes instead of using points, with a displacement field formulation similar to skinning. It allows to easily tune the weights and benefits from the rigor of physical methods as the finite elements. The introduction of integration points, reducing the samples number by a least squares approximation, speeds up the spatial integrations. Other pre-computations are proposed in order to speed up the simulation time. Finally, new anisotropic shape functions are defined to encode the variations of material properties thanks to the introduction of the compliance distance. These complex shape functions uncouple the material resolution of the displacement functions ones. It allow an extremely sparse nodes sampling. The use of the compliance distance allows an automatic nodes distribution with regard to the material properties.SAVOIE-SCD - Bib.électronique (730659901) / SudocGRENOBLE1/INP-Bib.électronique (384210012) / SudocGRENOBLE2/3-Bib.électronique (384219901) / SudocSudocFranceF