Part orienting with a force/torque sensor

This paper examines sensor-based orientation of polygonal shaped objects using a 6-axis force/torque sensor which is used to supply rotation and force information during the orientation process. Sensor-based algorithms utilizing rotation sense and force information are presented which offer improvements over the best sensorless orienting techniques, and are shown to be better than previous sensor-based techniques for parts with the same diameter value for every stable edge. Plans generated by our algorithm were tested and verified using a unique conveyor/robotic car testbed.