Sensorless sorting of two parts in the plane using programmable force fields

A part that is placed on a massively parallel actuator array can be manipulated by the force generated by a large number of supporting actuators. At a high level of abstraction, this form of nonprehensible distributed manipulation can be modeled using programmable force fields. This paper addresses the problem of manipulating multiple parts using programmable force fields. In particular, given two convex parts in different shapes which are in unknown configurations, we introduce a sequence of force fields that isolates, recognizes, and brings each part to its target configuration without using a sensor. The novelty of the proposed approach lies in the part isolation stage. Our technique uses part interaction under a radial force field as a condition ensuring that both parts will be separated from each other and moved into opposite halves of the plane. Once separated, each part can be processed independently and simultaneously using techniques for handling a single part.