Motion planning for cooperative manipulators folding flexible planar objects

Abstract — Research on robotic manipulation has mostly avoided the grasping of highly deformable objects, although they account for a significant portion of everyday grasping tasks. In this paper we address the problem of using cooperative manipulators for folding tasks of cloth-like deformable objects, from a motion planning perspective. We demonstrate that complex deformable object models are unnecessary for robotic applications. Consequently, a simple object model is exploited to create a new algorithm capable of generating collision-free folding motions for two cooperating manipulators. The algorithm encompasses the essential properties of manipulator-independence, parameterized fold quality, and speed. Numerous experiments executed on a real and simulated dual-manipulator robotic torso demonstrates the method’s effectiveness. I