<title>Planning wielding strategies for dynamic tasks</title>

Abstract

We analyze simple everyday actions with a view to developing strategies that an intelligent robot can use to perform these same actions. The domain of tasks studied are in the class of simple machine type of actions involving hand tools. The tool is assumed to be composed of two principal geometric primitives that serve as the handle and the output end respectively. A task is modeled as an operation on a target object by the tool. This desired effect determines a motion trajectory for the output end of the tool. The decisions on grasp location and orientation are made based on the handle motions computed above. In addition to planning grasps and manipulations, we also formulate strategies for recognizing such tools. Tool recognition (from visual input) is based on the geometric information extracted. All objects in a scene are segmented into volumetric primitives. The primitives are then analyzed for their suitability to participate in the required task. Different primitives are ranked according to these criteria and the most suitable object is chosen to function as the tool.