Contact-aware Shaping and Maintenance of Deformable Linear Objects With Fixtures

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel framework for controlling deformable linear objects using dual robots and environmental contacts, enabling shape maintenance and fixture placement in complex tasks.

Contribution

It presents a new shape planning and control framework that integrates environmental contacts, online shape estimation, and task-specific manipulation for deformable objects.

Findings

Successfully handles cable routing in real-world experiments.

Achieves contact-aware and flexible fixture fixing.

Utilizes combined visual and force feedback for shape estimation.

Abstract

Studying the manipulation of deformable linear objects has significant practical applications in industry, including car manufacturing, textile production, and electronics automation. However, deformable linear object manipulation poses a significant challenge in developing planning and control algorithms, due to the precise and continuous control required to effectively manipulate the deformable nature of these objects. In this paper, we propose a new framework to control and maintain the shape of deformable linear objects with two robot manipulators utilizing environmental contacts. The framework is composed of a shape planning algorithm which automatically generates appropriate positions to place fixtures, and an object-centered skill engine which includes task and motion planning to control the motion and force of both robots based on the object status. The status of the deformable linear object is estimated online utilizing visual as well as force information. The framework manages to handle a cable routing task in real-world experiments with two Panda robots and especially achieves contact-aware and flexible clip fixing with challenging fixtures.