Grasping versus Knitting: a Geometric Perspective
This work addresses the challenge of improving robotic manipulation by drawing insights from evolutionary adaptations in organisms, though it appears incremental in its theoretical approach.
The paper examines the geometric principles underlying grasping and knitting actions, contrasting their spatial and bodily origins to inform robotic design inspired by biological solutions.
Grasping an object is a matter of first moving a prehensile organ at some position in the world, and then managing the contact relationship between the prehensile organ and the object. Once the contact relationship has been established and made stable, the object is part of the body and it can move in the world. As any action, the action of grasping is ontologically anchored in the physical space while the correlative movement originates in the space of the body. Evolution has found amazing solutions that allow organisms to rapidly and efficiently manage the relationship between their body and the world. It is then natural that roboticists consider taking inspiration of these natural solutions, while contributing to better understand their origin.