Automated Gripper Jaw Design and Grasp Planning for Sets of 3D Objects

Abstract An algorithm for automatically generating a common jaw design and planning grasps for a given set of polyhedral objects is presented. The algorithm is suitable for a parallel‐jaw gripper equipped with three cylindrical fingers. The common jaw design eliminates the need for custom made grippers and tool changing. The proposed jaw configuration and planning approach reduces the search associated with locating the finger contacts from six degrees‐of‐freedom to one degree‐of‐freedom. Closed‐form algorithms for checking force closure and for predicting jamming are developed. Three quality metrics are introduced to improve the quality of the planned grasps. The first is a measure of the sensitivity of the grasp to errors between the actual and planned finger locations. The second is a measure of the efficiency of the grasp in terms of the contact forces. The third is a measure of the dependence of force closure on friction. These quality metrics are not restricted to cylindrical fingers and can be applied to n finger grasps. Running on a standard PC, the algorithm generated a solution in less than five minutes for a set of five objects with a total of 456 triangular facets. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.