The manipulation of large objects and the ability to safely operate in the vicinity of humans are key capabilities of a general purpose domestic robotic assistant. We present the design of a soft, tactile-sensing humanoid upper-body robot and demonstrate whole-body rich-contact manipulation strategies for handling large objects. We demonstrate our hardware design philosophy for outfitting off-the-shelf hard robot arms and other upper-body components with soft tactile-sensing modules, including: (i) low-cost, cut-resistant, contact pressure localizing coverings for the arms, (ii) paws based on TRI's Soft-bubble sensors for the end effectors, and (iii) compliant force/geometry sensors for the coarse geometry-sensing surface/chest. We leverage the mechanical intelligence and tactile sensing of these modules to develop and demonstrate motion primitives for whole-body grasping control. We evaluate the hardware's effectiveness in achieving grasps of varying strengths over a variety of large domestic objects. Our results demonstrate the importance of exploiting softness and tactile sensing in contact-rich manipulation strategies, as well as a path forward for whole-body force-controlled interactions with the world.
翻译:大型物体的操纵和在人类附近安全操作的能力,是一般用途的国内机器人助理的关键能力。我们展示了软性、触摸感知人体上体机器人的设计,并展示了处理大型物体的全体丰富接触操纵战略。我们展示了我们的硬件设计哲学,以配制现成的硬机器人臂和其他带有软触动感应传感器组件的上体部件,包括:(一) 用于武器的低成本、耐切、接触压力局部覆盖装置,(二) 以TRI的软式吸附感应器为基础,为终端效果器设计爪子;(三) 用于粗微几何感测表面/切片的符合要求的武力/地测量感应器。我们利用这些模块的机械智能和触控感来开发和展示用于全体控制的运动原始装置。我们评估硬件在掌握各种大型国内物体的不同优势方面的有效性。我们的结果表明,在接触力强的操纵战略中,利用软性和触动感应感应器的重要性。我们利用这些模型作为全体控制的前进路径。