A fast algorithm for grasp quality evaluation using the object wrench space

Grasp quality evaluation is an important problem when multifingered robotic hands are used to restrain objects in automation and manufacturing. In this paper we present a new algorithm to greatly expedite the evaluation of grasp quality considering the so-called object wrench space, i.e., the set of all disturbance wrenches that may be generated by a disturbance force acting on the object being grasped. While this metric has been known since a while, its practical use inside grasp planners has been limited because its exact computation is time consuming and thus prevents its use when many grasps have to be repeatedly evaluated during the planning process. Building on some geometric insights related to convex hulls, our algorithm determines on the fly which subset of the input data needs to be processed, and stops the computation as soon as it is known that the exact value of the metric has been determined. We show that our new algorithm significantly decreases the time needed to compute the grasping quality measure thus enabling grasp planners to use this metric to search the space of possible grasps.