Unfolding an item of rectangular clothing using a single arm and an assistant instrument

Abstract

This paper describes a method of unfolding an item of clothing by a single arm robot. The unfolding action is assumed to use a corner of a table so that a crumpled cloth is unfolded by pulled up while making contacts with the corner. Using this approach, two issues arose; overlapping problem and outward turnback problem. To solve the former, we proposed an instrument to prevent overlapping. To solve the latter, we built an algorithm that recognizes a warping form of clothing and added dissolving manipulation. Using four kinds of clothing, we confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method by using a real single arm robot. Our experiments resulted at a success rate from 65 percent to 85 percent.