The ability to grasp and manipulate objects with robotic systems and devices in a safe and robust way has been an important and challenging research topic in robotics for at least three decades. Such an ability is particularly important when high performance is required and/or when complex tasks need to be executed in dynamic and unstructured environments. Robots are increasingly spreading outside of structured industrial production cells to dynamically changing environments, opening up a wide set of new applications and challenges.
In this Research Topic, we will focus on the interesting and still open research challenge of grasping and manipulating deformable objects. Classical grasping theory relies on a series of assumptions that allow us to manage the problem with simple mathematical models: the grasped object is rigid, the hand is composed of rigid links connected by joints, hand/object contacts can be approximated as points, etc. Such clear and well-defined models cannot be easily applied to scenarios in which the objects have uncertain shapes and positions and can have large deformations when a force is applied to them (e.g. fruits and vegetables, fabric, etc.).
In this Research Topic, we will show how the problem can be tackled from different perspectives: from the design of suitable grippers and end effectors that exploit softness and are therefore capable of adapting to grasped objects without damaging them to the development of sensing systems and the planning and control of these devices.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Planning and control for robot grasping of deformable objects
• Robot perception in grasping and manipulation
• Robotic hands, grippers and end effectors for grasping and manipulation
• Sensor systems for grasping and manipulation
• Learning and adaptation for deformable object grasping and manipulation
• Applications and challenges of deformable object grasping and manipulation
Keywords: Robotic Grasping and Manipulation, soft robotics, robotic hands, robot design, robot control
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
