Catalog

A robot with the ability to physically interact with objects in its environment, has potential for significant impact across society and a range of industries. However, whilst robot manipulators are now commonplace in manufacturing, we are yet to see such technologies deployed in unstructured, everyday environments. In the Technical Committee on Robotic Hands, Grasping and Manipulation, we are coordinating global research efforts towards this goal, encompassing the challenges across both hardware and software.

In the design of robotic hardware, recent research efforts have evolved from designing only rigid manipulators and specialized grippers, to designing dexterous, human-like robotic hands and soft grippers, which are capable of grasping and manipulating a wide range of everyday objects. This includes not only design of manipulators, but also the actuators, joints, and links, which constitute a full robot arm. In the design of software control, today’s research has evolved from designing only task-specific controllers, to designing flexible controllers that can autonomously learn new tasks using artificial intelligence. This includes high-level control, such as pick-and-place planning, and low-level control, such as contact-rich manipulation. Meanwhile, novel sensors have been emerging to enable tactile, force, and visual feedback, and to provide an interface between the hardware and the software.

But despite these promising recent developments, challenges still remain in designing robot hands which are adaptable, robust, reliable, and low cost, and in designing robot controllers which are intelligent, generalizable, data efficient, and stable. We hope that you will join us to keep up-to-date with the latest research or to contribute to the community, as we move towards the next generation of robots that will move outside of the laboratory and into everyday environments.

https://www.ieee-ras.org/robotic-hands-grasping-and-manipulation