Densely Supervised Grasp Detector (DSGD)

This paper presents Densely Supervised Grasp Detector (DSGD), a deep learning framework which combines CNN structures with layer-wise feature fusion and produces grasps and their confidence scores at different levels of the image hierarchy (i.e., global-, region-, and pixel-levels). % Specifically, at the global-level, DSGD uses the entire image information to predict a grasp. At the region-level, DSGD uses a region proposal network to identify salient regions in the image and predicts a grasp for each salient region. At the pixel-level, DSGD uses a fully convolutional network and predicts a grasp and its confidence at every pixel. % During inference, DSGD selects the most confident grasp as the output. This selection from hierarchically generated grasp candidates overcomes limitations of the individual models. % DSGD outperforms state-of-the-art methods on the Cornell grasp dataset in terms of grasp accuracy. % Evaluation on a multi-object dataset and real-world robotic grasping experiments show that DSGD produces highly stable grasps on a set of unseen objects in new environments. It achieves 97% grasp detection accuracy and 90% robotic grasping success rate with real-time inference speed

Data-Driven Grasp Synthesis - A Survey

We review the work on data-driven grasp synthesis and the methodologies for sampling and ranking candidate grasps. We divide the approaches into three groups based on whether they synthesize grasps for known, familiar or unknown objects. This structure allows us to identify common object representations and perceptual processes that facilitate the employed data-driven grasp synthesis technique. In the case of known objects, we concentrate on the approaches that are based on object recognition and pose estimation. In the case of familiar objects, the techniques use some form of a similarity matching to a set of previously encountered objects. Finally for the approaches dealing with unknown objects, the core part is the extraction of specific features that are indicative of good grasps. Our survey provides an overview of the different methodologies and discusses open problems in the area of robot grasping. We also draw a parallel to the classical approaches that rely on analytic formulations.Comment: 20 pages, 30 Figures, submitted to IEEE Transactions on Robotic

Real-Time Grasp Detection Using Convolutional Neural Networks

We present an accurate, real-time approach to robotic grasp detection based on convolutional neural networks. Our network performs single-stage regression to graspable bounding boxes without using standard sliding window or region proposal techniques. The model outperforms state-of-the-art approaches by 14 percentage points and runs at 13 frames per second on a GPU. Our network can simultaneously perform classification so that in a single step it recognizes the object and finds a good grasp rectangle. A modification to this model predicts multiple grasps per object by using a locally constrained prediction mechanism. The locally constrained model performs significantly better, especially on objects that can be grasped in a variety of ways.Comment: Accepted to ICRA 201

Review of deep learning methods in robotic grasp detection

For robots to attain more general-purpose utility, grasping is a necessary skill to master. Such general-purpose robots may use their perception abilities to visually identify grasps for a given object. A grasp describes how a robotic end-effector can be arranged to securely grab an object and successfully lift it without slippage. Traditionally, grasp detection requires expert human knowledge to analytically form the task-specific algorithm, but this is an arduous and time-consuming approach. During the last five years, deep learning methods have enabled significant advancements in robotic vision, natural language processing, and automated driving applications. The successful results of these methods have driven robotics researchers to explore the use of deep learning methods in task-generalised robotic applications. This paper reviews the current state-of-the-art in regards to the application of deep learning methods to generalised robotic grasping and discusses how each element of the deep learning approach has improved the overall performance of robotic grasp detection. Several of the most promising approaches are evaluated and the most suitable for real-time grasp detection is identified as the one-shot detection method. The availability of suitable volumes of appropriate training data is identified as a major obstacle for effective utilisation of the deep learning approaches, and the use of transfer learning techniques is proposed as a potential mechanism to address this. Finally, current trends in the field and future potential research directions are discussed