Current Research
Master's
Dexterous Parallel Plate Gripper
(2022-Current)
As part of my Master's thesis, I am developing a dexterous parallel plate gripper with active belt surfaces. This gripper would provide 3 in-hand reorientation degrees of freedom (Z-rotation, Y-rotation, X-translation). Each finger has 2 belt surfaces, which are driven with a velocity or position control loop by motors that are contained in the finger. This provides a simple way to apply continuous rotations to objects if good antipodal grasp is achievable, reducing the algorithmic complexity needed for in-hand manipulation when compared to previous work using both complex and simple hands.
Y-rotation is demonstrated in the video below, where the belt surfaces are commanded to a constant velocity. There is no feedback for the pose of the object.
Collaborators: Lilly Chin, Rachel Holladay
Sensorized Origami-Inspired Gripper
(2022-Current)
This is another project that I am working on for my Master's thesis, which is a continuation of some previous work done in my lab. I am developing a method to sensorize lattice-based soft robots, which I am applying to a soft gripper. Using the sensors for tactile feedback, I plan to develop a "fumbling" grasp action that will be integrated into a task and motion planning system. We plan to show that embedding mechanical intelligence in this way can reduce algorithmic complexity, as there is no longer a need for the planning system to generate grasp candidates or for the perception system to accurately estimate the pose of the object to be grasped.
Collaborators: Lilly Chin, Rachel Holladay
