Scooping Manipulation Via Motion Control With a Two-Fingered Gripper and Its Application to Bin Picking

This letter introduces a new method for scooping manipulation in constrained environments. The presented technique lends itself to relatively thin objects, with a large width-to-thickness ratio, which are commonly seen in many domestic and industrial tasks yet can cause considerable difficulty in handling. We present a novel approach to scooping based on a mobility analysis that leads to a new way to perform the operation via motion control with a two-fingered gripper. Our method thus expands the ways in which the manipulation of scooping can be performed, without necessitating underactuated control or a compliant mechanism. Our variable-length digit is suggested as a key facilitator for realizing the motion-controlled scooping maneuver. We present an extensive set of experiments showing the effectiveness of our approach in various scenarios featuring a constrained workspace, including bin picking from clutter.