1000 Trials: An empirically validated end effector that robustly grasps objects from the floor

—Unstructured, human environments present great challenges and opportunities for robotic manipulation and grasping. Robots that reliably grasp household objects with unknown or uncertain properties would be especially useful, since these robots could better generalize their capabilities across the wide variety of objects found within domestic environments. Within this paper, we address the problem of picking up an object sitting on a plane in isolation, as can occur when someone drops an object on the floor - a common problem for motorimpaired individuals. We assume that the robot has the ability to coarsely position itself in front of the object, but otherwise grasps the object with an open-loop strategy that does not vary from object to object. We present a novel end effector that is capable of robustly picking up a diverse array of everyday handheld objects given these conditions. This straight-forward, inexpensive, nonprehensile end effector combines a compliant finger with a t...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: ICRA
• Authors: Zhe Xu, Travis Deyle, Charles C. Kemp
• Keywords: End Effector, ICRA 2009, Nonprehensile End Effector, Robot, Robotics