Robust Object Manipulation for Tactile-based Blind Grasping

TL;DR

This paper introduces a robust control law for tactile-based blind grasping that guarantees stable object manipulation despite uncertainties and disturbances, validated through simulations and experiments.

Contribution

It presents the first robust control approach with stability guarantees for tactile-based blind grasping under uncertainties.

Findings

Control law achieves semi-global asymptotic stability.

Experimental results confirm effectiveness in real-world scenarios.

Method handles model uncertainties and external disturbances.

Abstract

Tactile-based blind grasping addresses realistic robotic grasping in which the hand only has access to proprioceptive and tactile sensors. The robotic hand has no prior knowledge of the object/grasp properties, such as object weight, inertia, and shape. There exists no manipulation controller that rigorously guarantees object manipulation in such a setting. Here, a robust control law is proposed for object manipulation in tactile-based blind grasping. The analysis ensures semi-global asymptotic and exponential stability in the presence of model uncertainties and external disturbances that are neglected in related work. Simulation and experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.