Title :
Gripper point contacts for part alignment
Author :
Zhang, Mike Tao ; Goldberg, Ken
Author_Institution :
Intel Corp., Hillsboro, OR, USA
fDate :
12/1/2002 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
The initial resting pose of many industrial parts differs from the orientation desired for assembly. We show that it is possible to align parts during grasping using a standard parallel-jaw gripper. A solution is an arrangement of four gripper point contacts that will align the part in the vertical plane as the jaws close. Given a n-sided polygonal part and k uniformly distributed sample points on each side, we present an O(n4k4) numerical algorithm to compute a set of solutions or a report that no solution exists. The algorithm combines toppling, accessibility, and form-closure analysis. We have implemented the algorithm and report sensitivity data from physical experiments.
Keywords :
assembling; computational complexity; friction; industrial manipulators; accessibility; assembly; form-closure analysis; grasping; gripper point contacts; industrial parts; n-sided polygonal part; parallel-jaw gripper; part alignment; part feeding; resting pose; sensitivity data; toppling; uniformly distributed sample points; Algorithm design and analysis; Assembly systems; Computational geometry; Contacts; Costs; Distributed computing; Fixtures; Grippers; Manufacturing automation; Manufacturing industries;
Journal_Title :
Robotics and Automation, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TRA.2002.805657