Dexterous sliding manipulating using soft fingertips

In this paper, we build upon the results of the previous sliding manipulation analysis (Kao-Cutkosky 1992,1993) developed for instantaneously dexterous motion analysis, and extend the results to finite motion analysis and trajectory planning for soft robotic fingertips. Using the method of sliding analysis with decomposed rigid-body (RB) and non-rigid-body (NRB) components, we find the trajectory and motions of the finger tips over a finite range of motions during which the RB and NRB components are updated continuously. The results show that: (i) the RB/NRB sliding analysis can be applied to finite motion planning, (ii) the relative magnitudes of RB/NRB motions can be used as an index for manipulation task, and (iii) the advantageous orientations of force/motion can be used to plan for the motions of the grasped object