Traclabs Inc. — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: Z5

Description

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in">Robots will play an important role in NASA&#39;s upcoming missions to the Moon and beyond.&nbsp; More than just remote sensors, they will be expected to manipulate their environment in a complex and useful way - carrying objects, using tools, and assisting the crew with various physical activities.&nbsp; NASA has been developing world-class dexterous end effectors for years. Unfortunately, developing software to fully utilize such hands is very challenging.&nbsp; Grasping strategies tend to be highly dependent on object models and localization, or reliant on a good connection to an operator.&nbsp; As any of these deteriorate, even simple grasping of known objects becomes unreliable.&nbsp; The environment or the object&#39;s intended use can influence how to grasp it.&nbsp; The best way to pick up a tool will depend on whether it is to be transported to another location, handed to a crew member, or used as a tool.</p><p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in">Previously with NASA, TRACLabs developed robot control software called CRAFTSMAN that includes trajectory generation, simple action-sequencing capabilities, and a method for parameterizing, encoding, and visualizing task descriptions.&nbsp; CRAFTSMAN supports robot-independent task descriptions, but grasp strategies are still robot-specific open-loop waypoint sequences, subject to the problems listed above.&nbsp; In this work, we propose to extend CRAFTSMAN to handle grasping as a task-informed behavior, using sensor data and object models when possible to identify grasp sites.&nbsp; This new system, called ADAMANT (ADAptive MANipulation for Tasks), will help an operator to determine the best option for acquiring an object.&nbsp; The result will be a robot grasping interface that is more intuitive to use than current technology and will produce more robust robot behavior.&nbsp; This will reduce the cognitive load on remote robot operators by eliminating the need for run-time manual adjustments.&nbsp; By removing the details of grasp strategy from high-level planning, the design of action sequences will also become easier.</p>