ME320: Dextrous Manipulation and Teleoperation

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Latest schedule (7/14/96)

Course Description:

This course will explore issues in dextrous manipulation and teleoperation. Basic issues include: modeling of grasps and manipulation with multi-fingered hands; contact kinematics, dynamics and the role of tactile sensing; hybrid force/position and impedance control for manipulation; grasp and manipulation planning with rolling and sliding.

Philosophy and Content:

This course is intended for graduate students who already have some familiarity with robotics and controls and want to explore the history and current state of the art in dextrous manipulation. The focus will be on modeling issues, but we will also address applications to autonomous and teleoperated hands.
Dextrous manipulation as a field is now about 15 years old. We will begin our study with a review of a few benchmark early papers and look carefully at their underlying assumptions and contributions. We will proceed through more recent papers to obtain an understanding of how the field has progressed and matured. Finally, we will examine current topics in sensing, task-planning and control.

Prerequisites:

ME200a or CS205, and CS223 or CS327 or equivalent (consult instructor if uncertain about your background). It will be assumed that students have a basic familiarity with the underlying concepts from linear algebra, dynamics and controls. Students should be willing to dip into topics like Minkowski sums, screws and Lie algebra as they come up in the context of manipulation.

Presentations:

Presentations and critical discussion are the main components of this course (as in the research community in general). Each student will be responsible for presenting one or two papers during the quarter. (The presentations will be informal, as befits a small summer course.) The assignments of papers will be made at the start of the quarter. Everybody in the class will be expected to read over the paper, but the presenter will be expected to have gone through it at greater depth. The idea is for everybody to become familiar with all the topics we cover and to become an expert in a couple of them.

When presenting, think of yourself as reviewing a paper for a scientific workshop or preparing a discussion for Robotics Review (M.I.T. press). The point is not to regurgitate the paper contents but rather to lead a critical discussion of its contributions and shortcomings. (See memo on presentations for details). I will serve as the workshop "chairman" asking questions, adding examples and provoking discussion.

In addition to presenting the paper, you and I will be responsible for making up a couple of examples for the rest of the class to try and turn in the following week. Examples may inolve Matlab or Mathematica for numerical and symbolic analysis, respectively. You will be responsible for checking the assignments, with my help. No letter grade is to be assigned, but erroneous assignments will be handed back for resubmission.


Schedule of papers and topics:

(All classes meet from 4:00-5:45pm in Terman 529).

1. Friday, June 28: Introduction & review of human versus robotic grasp choice. (M. Cutkosky)

Readings Assignment: Short assignment on issues from the first lecture + read Salisbury selections for next week.

2. Monday, July 8: Basic grasp analysis. (A. West)

Grasp matrix formulation, internal/external forces, unisense constraints. Body versus world formulations. Different internal force specifications

Readings:

Assignment: Paper and Matlab assignments on grasp matrix formulation + read grasp choice papers for next meeting.

3. Monday, July 15: Grasp choice algorithms I - transformations and configurations. (M.Turner)

Readings: Assignment: Matlab assignment on grasp ellipsoid formulation.

4. Friday, July 19: Grasp choice algorithms II - grasping with friction and internal forces. (M. Turner)

Readings: Assignment: Matlab assignment on grasp optimization with friction + read papers on rolling kinematics.

5. Friday July 26: Rolling kinematics. (C. Hasser)

Readings:

6. Friday Friday August 2: Object impedance control? Sliding?

to be continued...