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Autonomous Shape Control of a Deformable Object by Multiple Manipulators

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Abstract

Shape control of a deformable object by a robotic system is a challenging problem because of the difficulty of imposing shape change by a finite number actuation points to an essentially infinite dimensional object. In this paper, a new approach to shape changing of deformable objects by a system of manipulators is presented. First, an integrated dynamic equation of motion for a system of multiple manipulators handling a deformable object is developed. The initial and the final shapes of the deformable object are specified by curves that represent the boundary of the object. We design an optimization-based planner that minimizes an energy-like criterion to determine the locations of the contact points on the desired curve representing the final shape of the object. The motion of each manipulator is controlled independently without any communication between them. Finally we design a robust controller for shape changing that can work in the presence of modeling uncertainty. The simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37205, USA

    Jadav Das & Nilanjan Sarkar

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  1. Jadav Das
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  2. Nilanjan Sarkar
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Correspondence to Jadav Das.

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Das, J., Sarkar, N. Autonomous Shape Control of a Deformable Object by Multiple Manipulators. J Intell Robot Syst 62, 3–27 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-010-9436-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-010-9436-5

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