SENSOR-BASED, WHOLE-ARM MANIPULATION FOR ADAPTIVE GRASPING

THE PROPOSED PROJECT IS THE DESIGN OF A NOVEL MANIPULATION SYSTEM WHICH CAN CONTROL CONTACTS WITH OBJECTS ALONG ALL SURFACES OF ITS LINKS. THIS WHOLE-ARM MANIPULATION (WAM) SYSTEM IS CAPABLE OF GRASPING AND MANIPULATING A VARIED SET OF OBJECTS FAR LARGER THAN THE SET WHICH MAY BE MANIPULATED BY A CONVENTIONAL ARM USING AN ATTACHED GRIPPER. RECENTLY DEVELOPED TACTILE SENSING TECHNOLOGY AND JOINT-TORQUE SENSING WILL ALLOW THE WAM MANIPULATOR TO CONTROL MULTIPLE CONTACTS STABLY ANYWHERE ALONG ITS LINKS. THE OBJECTIVES FOR PHASE I ARE TO DETERMINE IMPORTANT SPACE AND TERRESTRIALBASED TASKS FOR AN AUTONOMOUS OR TELEROBOTIC HAND/ARM SYSTEM, ASSESS THE STATE OF THE ART IN WHOLE-ARM MANIPULATION AND TACTILE-SENSING TECHNOLOGY, PERFORM ANALYSES AND AN EXPERIMENT ON AN EXISTING WAM MANIPULATOR TODETERMINE THE ACCURACY OF INTEGRATING JOINT-TORQUE AND TACTILE SENSOR INFORMATION TO CONTROL A WAM ARM, AND PROPOSESPECIFICATIONS FOR A WAM SYSTEM DESIGN.