We construct a Virtual Kinematic Chain (VKC) that readily consolidates the kinematics of the mobile base, the arm, and the object to be manipulated in mobile manipulations. Accordingly, a mobile manipulation task is represented by altering the state of the constructed VKC, which can be converted to a motion planning problem, formulated, and solved by trajectory optimization. This new VKC perspective of mobile manipulation allows a service robot to (i) produce well-coordinated motions, suitable for complex household environments, and (ii) perform intricate multi-step tasks while interacting with multiple objects without an explicit definition of intermediate goals. In simulated experiments, we validate these advantages by comparing the VKC-based approach with baselines that solely optimize individual components. The results manifest that VKC-based joint modeling and planning promote task success rates and produce more efficient trajectories.
@article{arxiv.2108.01264,
title = {Consolidating Kinematic Models to Promote Coordinated Mobile Manipulations},
author = {Ziyuan Jiao and Zeyu Zhang and Xin Jiang and David Han and Song-Chun Zhu and Yixin Zhu and Hangxin Liu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2108.01264},
year = {2022}
}