Dig-Grasping via Direct Quasistatic Interaction Using Asymmetric Fingers: An Approach to Effective Bin Picking

This letter introduces a new method for simultaneously singulating and picking objects from clutter. The method can lead to effective robotic bin picking, which still remains elusive despite its importance in many industrial and domestic applications, especially for objects with a thin profile. We leverage planar quasistatic pushing manipulation as a way of standardized physical interaction between a robot and the object to pick. A gripper designed with digit asymmetry, realized as a two-fingered gripper with different finger lengths, is suggested as the key to successful singulating and picking through the controlled pushing maneuver. A detailed account of the manipulation process and design principles will be presented. An extensive set of experiments validate the effectiveness of our approach in three-dimensional bin picking tasks. Beyond picking, more complex manipulation capabilities such as autonomous pick-and-place/pack will also be presented.