The OpenGRASP benchmarking suite: An environment for the comparative analysis of grasping and dexterous manipulation

In this work, we present a new software environment for the comparative evaluation of algorithms for grasping and dexterous manipulation. The key aspect in its development is to provide a tool that allows the reproduction of well-defined experiments in real-life scenarios in every laboratory and, hence, benchmarks that pave the way for objective comparison and competition in the field of grasping. In order to achieve this, experiments are performed on a sound open-source software platform with an extendable structure in order to be able to include a wider range of benchmarks defined by robotics researchers. The environment is integrated into the OpenGRASP toolkit that is built upon the OpenRAVE project and includes grasp-specific extensions and a tool for the creation/integration of new robot models. Currently, benchmarks for grasp and motion planningare included as case studies, as well as a library of domestic everyday objects models, and a real-life scenario that features a humanoid robot acting in a kitchen.