Related papers: TossingBot: Learning to Throw Arbitrary Objects wi…
The capabilities of a robot will be increased significantly by exploiting throwing behavior. In particular, throwing will enable robots to rapidly place the object into the target basket, located outside its feasible kinematic space,…
Robotic grasping in cluttered environments is often infeasible due to obstacles preventing possible grasps. Then, pre-grasping manipulation like shifting or pushing an object becomes necessary. We developed an algorithm that can learn, in…
Dynamic manipulation, such as robot tossing or throwing objects, has recently gained attention as a novel paradigm to speed up logistic operations. However, the focus has predominantly been on the object's landing location, irrespective of…
Throwing is a fundamental skill that enables robots to manipulate objects in ways that extend beyond the reach of their arms. We present a control framework that combines learning and model-based control for prehensile whole-body throwing…
In this work, we delve into the intricate synergy among non-prehensile actions like pushing, and prehensile actions such as grasping and throwing, within the domain of robotic manipulation. We introduce an innovative approach to learning…
This study explores a pick-and-toss (PT) as an alternative to pick-and-place (PP), allowing a robot to extend its range and improve task efficiency. Although PT boosts efficiency in object arrangement, the placement environment critically…
Extrinsic manipulation, a technique that enables robots to leverage extrinsic resources for object manipulation, presents practical yet challenging scenarios. Particularly in the context of extrinsic manipulation on a supporting plane,…
Humans throw and catch objects all the time. However, such a seemingly common skill introduces a lot of challenges for robots to achieve: The robots need to operate such dynamic actions at high-speed, collaborate precisely, and interact…
Human-robot object handovers have been an actively studied area of robotics over the past decade; however, very few techniques and systems have addressed the challenge of handing over diverse objects with arbitrary appearance, size, shape,…
In robotic grasping, objects are often occluded in ungraspable configurations such that no pregrasp pose can be found, eg large flat boxes on the table that can only be grasped from the side. Inspired by humans' bimanual manipulation, eg…
In this paper, we explore whether a robot can learn to hang arbitrary objects onto a diverse set of supporting items such as racks or hooks. Endowing robots with such an ability has applications in many domains such as domestic services,…
We consider the problem of sorting a densely cluttered pile of unknown objects using a robot. This yet unsolved problem is relevant in the robotic waste sorting business. By extending previous active learning approaches to grasping, we show…
A human hand can grasp a desired number of objects at once from a pile based solely on tactile sensing. To do so, a robot needs to grasp within a pile, sense the number of objects in the grasp before lifting, and predict the number of…
Several robot manipulation tasks are extremely sensitive to variations of the physical properties of the manipulated objects. One such task is manipulating objects by using gravity or arm accelerations, increasing the importance of mass,…
Humans excel in grasping and manipulating objects because of their life-long experience and knowledge about the 3D shape and weight distribution of objects. However, the lack of such intuition in robots makes robotic grasping an…
Robots that autonomously manipulate objects within warehouses have the potential to shorten the package delivery time and improve the efficiency of the e-commerce industry. In this paper, we present a robotic system that is capable of both…
Catching objects in flight (i.e., thrown objects) is a common daily skill for humans, yet it presents a significant challenge for robots. This task requires a robot with agile and accurate motion, a large spatial workspace, and the ability…
Robotic manipulation policies often struggle to generalize to novel objects, limiting their real-world utility. In contrast, cognitive science suggests that children develop generalizable dexterous manipulation skills by mastering a small…
In recent years, there has been a significant effort dedicated to developing efficient, robust, and general human-to-robot handover systems. However, the area of flexible handover in the context of complex and continuous objects' motion…
In response to the growing challenges of manual labor and efficiency in warehouse operations, Amazon has embarked on a significant transformation by incorporating robotics to assist with various tasks. While a substantial number of robots…