Dynamic manipulation of strings for housekeeping robots

Manipulation of deformable objects is an important subject for housekeeping robots. Dynamic manipulation of a string was studied in this paper as an example. The string is modeled by a rigid body linkage with passive joints in two-dimensional space. The parameters of the joint stiffness and viscosity are identified experimentally using a high speed video camera. A simulation of the dynamic manipulation is performed based on an optimal control theory to obtain the desired trajectory of the manipulator. The validity of the proposed method is shown by experimental results of the dynamic manipulation.