A Task-level Robot Planner for Assembly Operations

Abstract

WE DESCRIBE OUR CURRENT EFFORTS TOWARD BUILDING A HIGH-LEVEL PLANNER SUITABLE FOR ROBOTS FUNCTIONING IN THE ASSEMBLY DOMAIN. WE DETAIL THE OVER ALL SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE IN WHICH PLANNING IS COMPOSED OF TWO DISTINCT PHASES, A `STRATEGIC PLANNING'' PHASE WHICH WORKS FROM A BROAD DEFINITION OF THE ASSEMBLY TASK AND DESCRIPTION OF OBJECTS, AND A `TACTICAL PLANNING'' PHASE WHICH TAKES IN A RESTRICTED SET OF TASK-LEVEL OPERATIONS AND OUTPUTS A SERIES OF POSITION AND STIFFNESS SIGNALS TO THE LOWER-LEVEL ARM AND HAND CONTROLLERS. THIS REPORT DESCRIBES THE INITIAL DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT FOR THE STRATEGIC PLANNER WITHIN THIS FRAMEWORK. OUR CURRENT IMPLEMENTATION AND THE BEHAVIOR OF THE SYSTEM ON A FEW SIMPLE ASSEMBLY TASKS ARE DETAILED.