Automatic grasping and regrasping by space characterization for pick-and-place operations

This paper describes a method of planning grasps for parallel two-fingered grippers in order to pick up user-specified objects and place them at user-specified configurations. By characterizing local space around gripping positions, the method can plan grasps where the hand can move as freely as possible and then easily plan a path. It can plan regrasping where the grasps themselves and the regrasping placements are computed flexibly according to the environment. It can plan minimal sequences of regraspings for objects that have rotational symmetries