SEED: Series Elastic End Effectors in 6D for Visuotactile Tool Use
This work addresses robotic tool manipulation for applications in dynamic or 'wild' settings, representing an incremental advancement by extending series elasticity to 6 degrees of freedom with visuotactile integration.
The paper tackled the problem of grasping and manipulating tools in unstructured environments by proposing the SEED framework, which combines series elasticity with visuotactile sensing to enable stable force interactions, as demonstrated on tools requiring spatial force regulation.
We propose the framework of Series Elastic End Effectors in 6D (SEED), which combines a spatially compliant element with visuotactile sensing to grasp and manipulate tools in the wild. Our framework generalizes the benefits of series elasticity to 6-dof, while providing an abstraction of control using visuotactile sensing. We propose an algorithm for relative pose estimation from visuotactile sensing, and a spatial hybrid force-position controller capable of achieving stable force interaction with the environment. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework on tools that require regulation of spatial forces. Video link: https://youtu.be/2-YuIfspDrk