Learning the natural grasping component of an unknown object

A grasp is the beginning of any manipulation task. Therefore, an autonomous robot should be able to grasp objects it sees for the first time. It must hold objects appropriately in order to successfully perform the task. This paper considers the problem of grasping unknown objects in the same manner as humans. Based on the idea that the human brain represents objects as volumetric primitives in order to recognize them, the presented algorithm predicts grasp as a function of the object's parts assembly. Beginning with a complete 3D model of the object, a segmentation step decomposes it into single parts. Each single part is fitted with a simple geometric model. A learning step is finally needed in order to find the object component that humans choose to grasp it.