Graph-based Task-specific Prediction Models for Interactions between Deformable and Rigid Objects

Weng, Zehang; Paus, Fabian; Varava, Anastasiia; Yin, H.; Asfour, Tamim; Kragić, Danica

doi:10.48550/arxiv.2103.02932

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Manipulating deformable objects is a long-standing challenge in robotics. Methods have been developed for manipulating ropes [37], smoothing fabric [33,22], folding cloth [45,18,9,41], lifting bags [12,13,35], and inserting rigid object into deformable containers [42,34]. However, all the above methods are limited to using quasi-static pick-and-place actions.…”

Section: A Quasi-static Deformable Object Manipulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

DextAIRity: Deformable Manipulation Can be a Breeze

Xu¹,

Cheng²,

Burchfiel³

et al. 2022

Robotics: Science and Systems XVIII

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This paper introduces DextAIRity, an approach to manipulate deformable objects using active airflow. In contrast to conventional contact-based quasi-static manipulations, Dex-tAIRity allows the system to apply dense forces on out-ofcontact surfaces, expands the system's reach range, and provides safe high-speed interactions. These properties are particularly advantageous when manipulating under-actuated deformable objects with large surface areas or volumes. We demonstrate the effectiveness of DextAIRity through two challenging deformable object manipulation tasks: cloth unfolding and bag opening. We present a self-supervised learning framework that learns to effectively perform a target task through a sequence of grasping or air-based blowing actions. By using a closed-loop formulation for blowing, the system continuously adjusts its blowing direction based on visual feedback in a way that is robust to the highly stochastic dynamics. We deploy our algorithm on a real-world three-arm system and present evidence suggesting that DextAIRity can improve system efficiency for challenging deformable manipulation tasks, such as cloth unfolding, and enable new applications that are impractical to solve with quasistatic contact-based manipulations (e.g., bag opening).

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