Robotic hand design using compliant grasping and benchmark protocols

Date: Tuesday, 11/07/2023, 12h15
Room: IOC seminar (11th-floor ETSEIB building)

Robotic grasping is still a challenge due to the large variation of object properties found in real-world scenarios. To robustify grasping applications, especially in the logistic domain, we developed the CLASH hand. The main feature of this compliant end effector is its variable stiffness, which allows it to naturally adapt to the object's weight and properties while being able to withstand collisions with the environment. Embedded ToF and tactile sensors, among others, provide the information required to quickly recover from potential failures and to continue operation even in the case of problems in the motors or tendons. The hand can thus pick very delicate and light objects, such as a strawberry, or heavy and rigid objects, such as a melon. An automatic manipulation pipeline is also presented, to provide autonomous exploitation of the hand properties and environmental constraints in challenging settings. The hand performance is measured using established benchmarks for robotic manipulation. Other open problems in the robotic manipulation domain will be highlighted during the talk.  

Maximo A. Roa is a Senior Scientific Researcher at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics in the German Aerospace Center - DLR. He leads the group of Robotic Planning and Manipulation, focused on the development and implementation of locomotion and manipulation skills at different levels for industrial, service and humanoid robots. His research interests also include the development of mechatronic devices, torque-based control, and space robotics. He received his PhD in 2009 from Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya and also holds the Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification since 2016. Dr. Roa is an IEEE Senior Member and served as co-chair of the IEEE-RAS Technical Committee on Mobile Manipulation from 2013 until 2019. He is also a member of ASME, IAU, and PMI.