This document summarizes the system specifications for “The hand grasp motion planning system” constructed during “The Research and development on robotic intelligence for in-house life support robots” conducted as part of the “Development Project for Intelligent Technologies for Next-Generation Robots.”

Relevant documents

The relevant documents are listed in the table below.

Table 1-1 Relevant documents

No.	Document name	Remarks
1	Hand grasp motion planning behavioral specification	Description of the “Hand grasp motion planning” behavioral specification (Functional)
2	Hand grasp motion planning environment configuration specification	Description of the “Hand grasp motion planning” environment configuration specification
3	Hand grasp motion planning operating procedure	Description of the “Hand grasp motion planning” operating procedure

Target audience

This document targets developers of robotic systems that use RT Middleware (RTM) and RT Components (RTC) and assumes that they possess a general knowledge of RTM and RTC tools.

OpenRTM-aist Official Website:
http://www.openrtm.org/

Overview

Objective

To provide RT components that perform grasp motion planning for a known target position in in-house life support robots used in hospitals and nursing homes to perform daily operations such as the handing over or sending away of daily necessities.

System overview

This system is a grasp motion planning module that calculates the “ approach position & attitude” and the “hand grasp position & attitude” from (a) the measured position & attitude of the object (that is to be grasped) through visual modules and (b) previously stored information on the shape of the object.

The schematic diagram of the system is given below.

Figure 2-1. Schematic diagram of the hand grasp motion planning system

Figure 2-2 Example of grasp motion planning results

System Specification

Module configuration

In the development of robotic intelligence for in-house life support robots, the robot receives instructions via voice interactions and acquires information on the position of the manipulating object through Town Management Systems (TMS) and visual measurements. Based on the above, the robot carries out grasp motion planning using a grasp motion planning RTC. The robot performs grasping operations by moving and coordinating its entire body based on the above planning.

Module specifications

Grasp motion planning RTC

1) Outline
Performs hand grasp motion planning based on the input.

2) Basic information

Table 3-1 Basic information on the grasp motion planning RTC

Classification	RTC
Provider	National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Operating System	Ubuntu 10.04
RT Middleware	OpenRTM-aist-1.0.0-RELEASE（C++）
Development language	C++
Dependent libraries
- -

3) Port information

Table 3-2 RTC Service Provider Ports for Grasp motion planning

Port name	Connected to (RTC)	Remarks
PlanStartPort	“Operation planning execution” module	Receives information on the target object for grasping
ResultPort	“Operation planning execution” module	Transmits grasp motion planning

Details of the RTC configuration and functions making up this system are given below.

Figure 3-1. Connection configuration for grasp motion planning RTC

I/F between the modules

Input/output specification

In order to implement grasp motion planning, specifications for the transmission between the operation execution RTCs are determined by viewing from the grasp motion planning RTC side, as given below.

GraspPlanningStart: Input information on the target object.

Table 3-3 “GraspPlanningStart” Input/Ouput specifications

Input/Output	Variable type	Variable name	Comments
in	unsigned long	ObjId	Code number of the object to be grasped
in	DblSequence3	objPos	Position of the object to be grasped
in	DblSequence9	objOri	Attitude of the object to be grasped
out	unsigned long	state	Success (0) or Failure (1)

GraspPlanningResult: Output of grasp motion planning

Table 3-4 “GraspPlanningResult” Input/Ouput specifications

Input/Output	Variable type	Variable name	Comments
In	DblSequence3	GraspPos	Grasp Position
In	DblSequence9	GraspOri	Grasp Attitude
In	DblSequence3	ApproachPos	Approach Position
In	DblSequence9	ApproachOri	Approach Attitude
In	double	angle	Opening and Closing angles of the Gripper
In	unsigned long	state	1 when grasp pattern exists
out	unsigned long	isContinue	Takes the value of 1 while Continue=Yes

Operating sequence

The operating sequence in grasp motion is given below.

Figure 3-2. Grasp motion planning sequence diagram