Non-grasp manipulation of deformable object by using pizza handling mechanism

This paper discusses the non-grasp dynamic manipulation of a deformable object inspired by the handling mechanism of pizza master. The master handles a tool where a plate is attached at the tip of a bar, and he remotely manipulates a pizza on the plate. We found that he aggressively utilizes two DOFs (degrees of freedom), such that the linear motion along the bar and the rotational one around the bar, in order to produce quick plate motions for dynamically manipulating the object. Applying this handling mechanism to the robot system, we first show how to rotate an object by using the two DOFs of plate motion. We then reveal that the deformation of the object generated by dynamic effects can drastically contribute to high-speed and stable rotation, just like human steps for turn on the floor. By both simulation and experiment, we show that there exists the optimum plate motion leading to the maximum rotational speed of the object.