Abstract: This talk is going to review our current work on sensor based grasping and caging considering both theoretical foundation and implementation in realistic scenarios. The notion of a caging grasp, which bounds the mobility of an object rather than necessarily immobilizing it completely, has recently received increased interest in robotics. Unlike classical grasp synthesis, where force-closure grasps are determined based on local contact information, the caging condition requires rigorous reasoning about connected components of the free configuration space of positions of an object. In terms of caging, we present a framework for the synthesis and provably correct verification of caging grasps on a class of 3D objects which exhibit geometric features we call `necks' and `forks' as well as demonstrate practical caging on objects that exhibit holes. In terms of grasping, we present a system for integrated grasp synthesis and grasp adaptation based on impedance control and finger gating.
Biography: Danica Kragic is a Professor at the School of Computer Science and Communication at the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH. She received MSc in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Rijeka, Croatia in 1995 and PhD in Computer Science from KTH in 2001. She has been a visiting researcher at Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University and INRIA Rennes. She is the Director of the Centre for Autonomous Systems. Danica received the 2007 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Early Academic Career Award. She is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and Young Academy of Sweden. She holds a Honorary Doctorate from the Lappeenranta University of Technology. She chaired IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Computer and Robot Vision and served as an IEEE RAS AdCom member. Her research is in the area of robotics, computer vision and machine learning. In 2012, she received an ERC Starting Grant. Her research is supported by the EU, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research and Swedish Research Council.
