HEAP: A Sensory Driven Distributed Manipulation System

We address the problems of locating, grasping, and removing one or more unknown objects from a given area. In order to accomplish the task we use HEAP, a system of coordinating the motions of the hand and arm. HEAP also includes a laser range finer, mounted at the end of a PUMA 560, allowing the system to obtain multiple views of the workspace. We obtain volumetric information of the objects we locate by fitting superquadric surfaces on the raw range data. The volumetric information is used to ascertain the best hand configuration to enclose and constrain the object stably. The Penn Hand used to grasp the object, is fitted with 14 tactile sensors to determine the contact area and the normal components of the grasping forces. In addition the hand is used as a sensor to avoid any undesired collisions. The objective in grasping the objects is not to impart arbitrary forces on the object, but instead to be able to grasp a variety of objects using a simple grasping scheme assisted with a volumetric description and force and touch sensing.