The instantaneous kinematics of manipulation

Abstract

Dextrous manipulation planning is a problem of paramount importance in the study of multifingered robotic hands. In this paper, we show in general, that all system variables (the finger joint, object and contact velocities) need to be included in the differential kinematic equation used for manipulation planning, even if the manipulation task is only specified in terms of the goal configuration of the object or the contacts only. The dextrous manipulation kinematics that relates the finger joint movements to object and contact movements is derived. With the results of inverse and forward instantaneous kinematics, we precisely formulate the problem of dextrous manipulation and cast it in a form suitable for integrating the relevant theory of contact kinematics, nonholonomic motion planning, and grasp stability to develop a general technique for dextrous manipulation planning with multifingered hands.