LIMS Projects - Manipulation by Pushing

Manipulation by Pushing

Students:

Professors:
Kevin Lynch

For planar manipulation problems, pushing provides an option for robots lacking the size, strength, or dexterity to grasp and carry an object. For example, it is usually easier to push a couch into position than to grasp and lift it. Our work on robotic pushing focuses on three aspects:

Mechanics. How does an object move when it is pushed? If a mobile robot is pushing an object with a plow, what directions can the robot move and have the object remain fixed against the plow? (This is called a stable push.) These questions depend on the contact geometry and friction between the pusher and the object, and the mechanics of sliding friction between the object and the support surface.
Controllability. Can the object be pushed from the start configuration to the goal configuration? What if there are obstacles? Conditions for local and global controllability of an object by pushing can be derived in terms of the geometry of the part, the location of its center of friction, and the geometry and friction coefficient of the pusher/object contact.
Planning. How do we plan stable pushing motions to move an object from a start configuration to a goal configuration, possibly among obstacles? The stable pushing directions amount to a set of nonholonomic inequality constraints, and the planning problem is an example of nonholonomic motion planning.

References to relevant papers are given below.

K. M. Lynch. Locally controllable manipulation by stable pushing. IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 15(2):318-327, April 1999. abstract, postscript (1322 K), pdf (281 K)
K. M. Lynch. Locally controllable polygons by stable pushing. 1997 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 1442-1447, Albuquerque, NM, April 1997. abstract, postscript (732 K), pdf (115 K)
K. M. Lynch and M. T. Mason. Stable pushing: Mechanics, controllability, and planning. International Journal of Robotics Research, 15(6): 533-556, December 1996. abstract, postscript (2214 K) (An earlier version appeared in the First Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics, A. K. Peters, Boston, 1995.)
K. M. Lynch and M. T. Mason. Controllability of pushing. 1995 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 112-119, Nagoya, Japan, May 1995. abstract, postscript (593 K), pdf (209 K)
K. M. Lynch. Planning pushing paths. International Conference on Advanced Mechatronics, pp. 451-456, Tokyo, Japan, August 1993.
K. M. Lynch. Estimating the friction parameters of pushed objects. 1993 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 186-193, Yokohama, Japan, July 1993. abstract, postscript (435 K), pdf (229 K)
K. M. Lynch, H. Maekawa, and K. Tanie. Manipulation and active sensing by pushing using tactile feedback. 1992 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 416-421, Raleigh, NC, July 1992. abstract, postscript (346 K), pdf (105 K)
K. M. Lynch. The mechanics of fine manipulation by pushing. 1992 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 2269-2276, Nice, France, May 1992. abstract, postscript (300 K), pdf (97 K)
Michael A. Peshkin and A. C. Sanderson The motion of a pushed, sliding workpiece IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 4:6, December 1988. abstract, postscript (300 K), pdf (97 K)

Last updated BPD 9/4/03.