To Örebro University

Predicting grasp success is useful for avoiding failures in many robotic applications. Based on reasoning in wrench space, we address the question of how well analytic grasp success prediction works if tactile feedback is incorporated. Tactile information can alleviate contact placement uncertainties and facilitates contact modeling. We introduce a wrench-based classifier and evaluate it on a large set of real grasps. The key finding of this work is that exploiting tactile information allows wrench-based reasoning to perform on a level with existing methods based on learning or simulation. Different from these methods, the suggested approach has no need for training data, requires little modeling effort and is computationally efficient. Furthermore, our method affords task generalization by considering the capabilities of the grasping device and expected disturbance forces/moments in a physically meaningful way.

A mobile robot communicating its intentions using Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR) on the shared floor space makes humans feel safer and more comfortable around the robot. Our previous work [1] and several other works established this fact. We built upon that work by adding an adaptable information and control to the SAR module. An empirical study about how a mobile robot builds trust in humans by communicating its intentions was conducted. A novel way of evaluating that trust is presented and experimentally shown that adaption in SAR module lead to natural interaction and the new evaluation system helped us discover that the comfort levels between human-robot interactions approached those of human-human interactions.

Grasping systems that build upon meticulously planned hand postures rely on precise knowledge of object geometry, mass and frictional properties - assumptions which are often violated in practice. In this work, we propose an alternative solution to the problem of grasp acquisition in simple autonomous pick and place scenarios, by utilizing the concept of grasp envelopes: sets of constraints on gripper postures. We propose a fast method for extracting grasp envelopes for objects that fit within a known shape category, placed in an unknown environment. Our approach is based on grasp envelope primitives, which encode knowledge of human grasping strategies. We use environment models, reconstructed from noisy sensor observations, to refine the grasp envelope primitives and extract bounded envelopes of collision-free gripper postures. Also, we evaluate the envelope extraction procedure both in a stand alone fashion, as well as an integrated component of an autonomous picking system.

Freely moving autonomous mobile robots may leadto anxiety when operating in workspaces shared with humans.Previous works have given evidence that communicating in-tentions using Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR) in the sharedworkspace will make humans more comfortable in the vicinity ofrobots. In this work, we conducted experiments with the robotprojecting various patterns in order to convey its movementintentions during encounters with humans. In these experiments,the trajectories of both humans and robot were recorded witha laser scanner. Human test subjects were also equipped withan eye tracker. We analyzed the eye gaze patterns and thelaser scan tracking data in order to understand how the robot’sintention communication affects the human movement behavior.Furthermore, we used retrospective recall interviews to aid inidentifying the reasons that lead to behavior changes.

So far, autonomous order picking (commissioning) systems have not been able to meet the stringent demands regarding speed, safety, and accuracy of real-world warehouse automation, resulting in reliance on human workers. In this letter, we target the next step in autonomous robot commissioning: automatizing the currently manual order picking procedure. To this end, we investigate the use case of autonomous picking and palletizing with a dedicated research platform and discuss lessons learned during testing in simplified warehouse settings. The main theoretical contribution is a novel grasp representation scheme which allows for redundancy in the gripper pose placement. This redundancy is exploited by a local, prioritized kinematic controller which generates reactive manipulator motions on-the-fly. We validated our grasping approach by means of a large set of experiments, which yielded an average grasp acquisition time of 23.5 s at a success rate of 94.7%. Our system is able to autonomously carry out simple order picking tasks in a humansafe manner, and as such serves as an initial step toward future commercial-scale in-house logistics automation solutions.

We suggest a grasp represen-tation in form of a set of enveloping spatial constraints. Our representation transforms the grasp synthesisproblem (i. e., the question of where to position the graspingdevice) from finding a suitable discrete manipulator wrist pose to finding a suitable pose manifold. Also the correspondingmotion planning and execution problem is relaxed – insteadof transitioning the wrist to a discrete pose, it is enough tomove it anywhere within the grasp envelope which allows toexploit kinematic redundancy.

The upcoming new generation of autonomous vehicles for transporting materials in industrial environments will be more versatile, flexible and efficient than traditional AGVs, which simply follow pre-defined paths. However, freely navigating vehicles can appear unpredictable to human workers and thus cause stress and render joint use of the available space inefficient. Here we address this issue and propose on-board intention projection on the shared floor space for communication from robot to human. We present a research prototype of a robotic fork-lift equipped with a LED projector to visualize internal state information and intents. We describe the projector system and discuss calibration issues. The robot’s ability to communicate its intentions is evaluated in realistic situations where test subjects meet the robotic forklift. The results show that already adding simple information, such as the trajectory and the space to be occupied by the robot in the near future, is able to effectively improve human response to the robot.