A New Device for Sensorless Manipulation

Joint work with Vivek Bhatt, Bruce Donald, and Ken Goldberg.

First Experimental Setup


Experimental determination of node curve and example of part alignment.

Second Experimental Setup
Experimental determination of node curve and example of part alignment.

The existing industrial parts feeders move the parts through a sequence of mechanical filters that reject parts in unwanted orientations. In this paper we develop a new setup that uses a different vibratory mechanism to systematically manipulate parts, by actively orienting and localizing them. The idea is to generate and change dynamic modes for a plate by varying the applied frequency of oscillation. Depending on the node shapes of the plate for these frequencies, the position and orientation of the parts can be controlled. We develop an analysis of the underlying dynamics, and show that it can be used to predict the behavior of objects placed on the vibrating plate. Using this analysis, we propose that the applied frequencies can be automatically sequenced to obtain a ``sensorless'' strategy for manipulating a given object.

Videos:

Publications:

  1. K.-F. Böhringer, V. Bhatt, B. R. Donald, and K. Goldberg, Algorithms for Sensorless Manipulation Using a Vibrating Surface, Algorithmica, To appear.
  2. K.-F. Böhringer, B. R. Donald, and N. C. MacDonald, Upper and Lower Bounds for Programmable Vector Fields with Applications to MEMS and Vibratory Plate Parts Feeders, Workshop on Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics (WAFR), Toulouse, France (July, 1996).
  3. K.-F. Böhringer, B. R. Donald, and N. C. MacDonald, What Programmable Vector Fields Can (and Cannot) Do: Force Field Algorithms for MEMS and Vibratory Plate Parts Feeders, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Minneapolis, Minnesota (April 1996).
  4. Karl F. Böhringer, Vivek Bhatt, and Ken Goldberg, Sensorless Manipulation Using Transverse Vibrations of a Plate, to appear in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Nagoya, Japan (May, 1995). Nominated for Best Conference Paper Award.

    Also of interest:

  5. K.-F. Böhringer, B. R. Donald, R. Mihailovich, and N. C. MacDonald, Sensorless Manipulation Using Massively Parallel Microfabricated Actuator Arrays, Proc. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), San Diego, CA (May, 1994).
  6. K. Y. Goldberg, Orienting Polygonal Parts Without Sensing, Algorithmica, 10(2/3/4):201-225, Springer Verlag (August / September / October 1993).

karl@cs.cornell.edu