Carnegie Mellon robot learns how a rope will move by giving it a quick wiggle
The method lets a robot plan how to handle ropes and cables without practice tries.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have built a system that lets a robot figure out how a rope or cable will behave by wiggling it once, the university's Robotics Institute said Oct. 29.
Ropes are hard for robots because they can bend, twist and stretch anywhere along their length, and two ropes can react differently to the same motion. In the method, called Wiggle and Go, the robot shakes the rope while an overhead camera records the wave that travels through it. Software then estimates traits such as weight and stiffness, and the robot plans its move without practice tries.
The researchers said that matters when there is no second chance, such as throwing a rescue rope to someone in the water. The team trained the system in computer simulation, then used the real wiggle to sharpen its predictions.
"With ropes or cables, you effectively have infinite degrees of freedom," meaning countless ways to move, said Jeffrey Ichnowski, an assistant professor in the Robotics Institute.