Pivoting Manipulation of a Large Object: A Study of Application using Humanoid Platform

Pivoting manipulation can be an alternative to pushing operation when the floor is not flat enough, or when the object to manipulate is too heavy. The technique of pivoting is used by humans to move large and bulky furniture from one place to another. The decomposition of the task of pivoting has already been studied, in particular with the use of two fingers of a robotic arm. This work intends to apply the technique of pivoting using an humanoid platform. The robot should be able to pivot the object and to walk with it to displace it to a specific remote location. The research achievements proposed here take place in a more long term objective aimed at improving the dexterity and the autonomy of humanoid robots. As a matter of fact, such robots should be able to handle objects and move around in the environment in an autonomous way. This paper describes the algorithm designed to perform the displacement of a large object using the pivoting technique. It also presents the results of the dynamic simulation and the results of the real hardware experiment of the HRP-2 platform performing the task.