An approach for object manipulation using cooperative agents

This paper explores a cooperative manipulation method for orienting and translating convex objects in the plane. The manipulation task is performed by two agents using the concept of "virtual fence". During the manipulation, each agent makes a point contact with the object, and two agents push together along a straight-line. One advantage of a virtual fence over physical fence is that virtual fence can manipulate non-polygonal parts, and reduce the position and orientation uncertainties simultaneously. Moreover, the coordination between agents increases the flexibility of the manipulation system. We first identify two manipulation primitives, equilibrium and non-equilibrium pushes, and characterize the motion of the object under these two pushing actions. Then, we study the planning problem in the framework of switched system, and develop a fully analytical solution to the planning problem. Finally, manipulation examples and experiments are provided to demonstrate the proposed manipulation method