Robotic Manipulation Strategies

Michael A. Peshkin

ISBN: 0137814933

 

Do robots always need expensive, dedicated fixtures for workpart positioning, or can they perform accurate assembly and manipulation on "table-top" surfaces? Not only is table-top manipulation possible, but the sliding that occurs can be used to advantage if it is well understood.

Author Michael A. Peshkin offers readers methods of automating the design of robotic manipulation strategies reliant on sliding and friction. A central problem is that of predicting the motion of a pushed sliding object, independently of the details of the contact surface. This problem is solved: the locus of all possible center of rotation is bounded. The results are used to create automatically the complex sequenced of motions that align workpieces by the use of sliding.

Coverage inludes:

  • Sensorless manipulation in the presence of uncertainty
  • Robotic part alignment and part-feeders
  • The center of rotation for a sliding object
  • The minimum power principle for quasistatic motion
  • Configuration maps for planning complex motion sequences
  • Experimental results
  • ...and more