Progressive, continuum grasping in cluttered space

Continuum manipulators, inspired by invertebrate structures in nature, such as octopus arms and elephant trunks, do not contain rigid links, can deform, and are passively compliant, which make them particularly flexible for manipulation in cluttered space. A key open issue here is how to make such a manipulator autonomously grasp an object in cluttered space, especially if the object cannot be completely seen or known before being grasped. In this paper, we address this issue by introducing an approach that enables a multi-section continuum manipulator to probe an object with its tip while gradually form a whole-arm, force-closure grasp by following closely the contour of the probed object. This real-time approach is both effective and efficient for grasping an object in a cluttered space, as evident from the test examples.