Formulation and planning of planar caging manipulation by robots and walls

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a new robotic manipulation : planar caging manipulation by robots and walls. Caging is a method to make an object inescapable from a closed region by rigid bodies. Previous studies use only robots for caging, while we use walls as well. First, we formulate planar caging with the environment such as walls. Next, we derive the caging manipulability condition. The manipulability problem is trivial in robot-only caging, but crucial in our cases. Finally, we present a method to plan planar caging manipulation of a circular object by circular robots and rectilinear walls.