3D elastic deformable object model for robot manipulation purposes

Abstract

This paper presents a mass-spring model applied to the manipulation of an elastic deformable object for home service robot application. A system is also proposed that is used to fold a piece of rectangular cloth from a specific initial condition using a robot. The cloth is modeled as a three-dimensional object in a two-dimensional quadrangular mesh based on a massspring system, and its state is estimated using an explicit integration scheme that computes the particle position as a function of the internal and external forces acting on the elastic deformable object. The current state of the elastic deformable object under robot manipulation is tracked based on the trajectory of the mass points in the mass-spring system model in a self-developed simulator, which integrates a massspring model and a five-degree-of-freedom articulated robotic arm. To test the reliability of the model, the simulator is used to predict the best possible paths for using the robotic arm to fold a rectangular cloth into two. In the test, the state of the object is derived from the model and then compared with the results of a practical experiment. Based on the test, the error is found to be generally acceptable. Thus, this model can be used as an estimator for the vision-based tracking of the state of an elastic deformable object for manipulation by home service robots.