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About

Khairul Salleh is a pioneering researcher in the field of robotic manipulation, with a specific focus on the complex challenge of handling deformable objects. His work is foundational to the development of home service robots, which must move beyond rigid industrial tasks to manage soft, unpredictable materials like clothes, rubber, and paper. Salleh’s major contribution lies in the concept of “edge tracing,” a method he developed to reveal the original shape of a deformable object, such as a towel, by using sensor-equipped robot grippers. His most influential work, the 2008 paper on “Inchworm robot grippers for clothes manipulation” (20 citations), introduces a novel gripper design that mimics an inchworm’s motion to grasp and manipulate fabric. This is complemented by his 2006 paper on “Tracing Manipulation of Deformable Objects” (16 citations), which outlines a unique tracing algorithm for towel spreading using two robot arms and a CCD camera. Salleh’s research has been instrumental in advancing dexterous manipulation, with his papers collectively cited over 70 times, establishing him as a key figure in enabling robots to perform delicate, real-world tasks like folding laundry.