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Manipulation of ArticulatedObjects |
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Articulated 3-D StructuresManipulating articulated 3-D structures is challenging since the shape of the object changes as it is manipulated and the number of degrees of freedom of the object can exceed those of the manipulating robot. I am developing techniques for the manipulation and motion planning of "pop-up" 3-D structures. This work is motivated by the task of folding cartons from blanks to package products such as telephones and two-way radios, which is typically performed by human operators or with fixed automation. Liang Lu and I developed a flexible method to fold cardboard cartons from blanks by using interchangeable fixtures to enable rapid product changeovers. We developed a motion planning algorithm that generates all folding sequences for a carton by modeling it as a robot manipulator with revolute joints and branching links. A fixture constrains the carton motion to paths consisting of line segments in its configuration space, and these paths are generated by the motion planner. To illustrate the method, we selected a folding sequence for an example carton, designed a fixture, and demonstrated folding of the carton from blanks with an AdeptOne robot. These techniques can be extended to the manipulation and motion planning of a broader class of 3-D structures including sheet metal bending products and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).
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