A Mobile Manipulator

This paper describes a mobile manipulator that uses its wheels for manipulation as well as locomotion. This robot, named the mobipulator, looks like a small car with four independently powered wheels, none of them steered. It is designed to manipulate paper and other objects on the surface of a desk. The wheels are used for locomotion or for manipulation, switching functions dynamically as the task demands. So far we have preliminary demonstrations of a variety of motions, and performance data for the task of moving a sheet of paper in a square while maintaining constant orientation.

Authors

• Matthew T. Mason
• Dinesh K. Pai
• Daniela Rus
• Lee R. Taylor
• Michael A. Erdmann

Keywords

• Wheels
• Mobile robots
• Robot sensing systems
• Robot vision systems
• Cameras
• Manipulator dynamics
• Kinematics
• Read only memory
• Sensor systems
• Books
• Mobile Manipulator
• Sheet Of Paper
• Degrees Of Freedom
• Vector Field
• Manipulation Tasks
• Mechanical Design
• Configuration Space
• Mobile Robot
• Coordinate Frame
• Motion Mode
• Straight Edges
• Front Wheel
• Rear Wheels
• Large Flat
• Dung Beetles
• Inchworm
• Wheel Load
• Wheel Slip