Parts orienting by push-aligning

Programmable parts orienting is an important capability for flexible automation systems. Here we study how a part grasped in an unknown orientation by a force-controlled robot can be oriented by a sequence of push-align actions against a wall followed by sensor measurements of the distance from the grasp point to the wall. This paper concentrates on three issues: planning a sequence of actions to orient a part, exploring design changes that enable the part to be oriented in fewer steps, and the effect of shape uncertainty, due to manufacturing tolerances, on part orientability.