Robots accomplish tasks by physically interacting with their environment. In principle, robots can be useful in a broad range of applications, ranging from industrial assembly lines and product distribution centers, to the care of the elderly, and for entertainment and education. One of the major limitations for autonomous robots in all of these applications is the ability to grasp and manipulate objects, something that is an absolute requirement for most robotic applications. In spite of many decades of active research, the dexterity and versatility of human manipulation remained out of reach for robots, fundamentally limiting the applicability of robotic technology.
The project “Soft Manipulation” (SOMA) achieved a breakthrough in robotic manipulation by copying the principles of human manipulation and by transferring these principles to robotic applications. To achieve this, SOMA explored a new avenue of robotic manipulation: manipulation with the environment, as opposed to manipulation of or in the environment. In our approach, the physical constraints imposed by objects in the environment and the manipulandum itself are not regarded as obstacles, but rather as opportunities to guide functional hand pre-shaping, adaptive grasping, and affordance-guided manipulation of objects. The exploitation of these opportunities, which we refer to as environmental constraints (EC), enabled robust grasping and manipulation
in dynamic, open, and highly variable environments.
A key ingredient for the exploitation of EC is softness of hands, i.e. their embodied ability to comply and adapt to features of the environment. The traditional paradigm for robotic manipulation is not able to address this shift of focus: state-of-the-art grasp planners are targeted towards rigid hands and objects, and are an attempt to find algorithmic solutions to inherently complex, often ill-posed problems. Further complicating matters, the requirements of planning for soft, uncertain interactions between hand and environment is entirely beyond the state of the art. However, this is how humans most often use their hands.
SOMA developed a comprehensive new view of robotic manipulation, including novel hands, sensing, control, planning and perception. Taken together, these components deliver versatile, robust, cost-effective, and safe robotic grasping and manipulation capabilities. We successfully demonstrated Soft Manipulation technology in an open manipulation problem in the food logistics industry: the handling of irregularly shaped, flexible, and easily damageable goods, such as fruit and vegetables. We also successfully demonstrated the SOMA technology in an entertainment application, where safety, comfort, and human/robot interaction were the most important metrics for success.
The results of the project are published here:
http://soma-project.eu/(opens in new window)
