Robot Active Touch Exploration: Constraints and Strategies

Abstract

We investigate the problem of using active touch ("haptic") exploration to recognize a 3D object taken from a known set of models. "That is new is that we combine two approaches: (1) using geometric constraints between components to eliminate interpretations, and interpretation tree methods for choosing the best active sensing move; (2) exploratory moves made by tracing continually along the surface of the object (and not through free space). We restrict ourselves to polyhedral, and give a set of geometric constraints tailored for matching components acquired from haptic exploration against components in the models. We present a new constraint using pairs of line segments. We then give a set of active sensing moves, each with an associated cost measure, and our strategies for choosing the next move