A review on modeling of flexible deformable object for dexterous robotic manipulation

In this article, we present a review on the recent advancement in flexible deformable object modeling for dexterous manipulation in robotic system. Flexible deformable object is one of the most research topics in computer graphic, computer vision, and robotic literature. The deformable models are known as the construction of object with material parameters in virtual environment to describe the deformation behavior. Existing modeling techniques and different types of deformable model are described. Various approaches of deformable object modeling have been used in robotic recognition and manipulation in order to reduce the time and cost to obtain more accurate result. In robotic manipulation, object detection, classification, and recognition of deformable objects are always a challenging problem and required as a first step to imbue the robot to able handle these deformable objects. Furthermore, the dexterity of robot control is also another essential key in handling of deformable object which its manipulation strategies need to plan intelligently for each sequence process. We also discuss some deserving direction for further research based on most current contribution.

Collaborative Haptic Interfaces and Distributed Control for Product Development and Virtual Prototyping

In this paper, we propose a collaborative product development and virtual prototyping framework based on distributed haptic interfaces along with the deformable object modeling. Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) is a promising technique in industrial product development and virtual prototyping for globalized manufacturing enterprises. Network control problems such as network delay have greatly limited CVE’s application. The problem becomes more difficult when high-update-rate haptic interfaces and computation-demanding deformable objects are both integrated into CVEs for intuitive manipulation and enhanced realism. A hybrid network architecture is presented to balance the computational burden of haptic rendering and deformable object simulation. An adaptive artificial time compensation is used to reduce the time discrepancy between the server and the client. Interpolation and extrapolation approaches are used to synchronize graphic and haptic data transmitted over the network. The proposed techniques can be used for collaborative product virtual prototyping, virtual assembly, remote surgical simulation and other collaborative virtual environments where both haptic interfaces and deformable object models are involved.