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arXiv · 2503.08545

Deformable Linear Object Surface Placement Using Elastica Planning and Local Shape Control

I. Grinberg·A. Levin·E. D. Rimon
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Abstract

Manipulation of deformable linear objects (DLOs) in constrained environments is a challenging task. This paper describes a two-layered approach for placing DLOs on a flat surface using a single robot hand. The high-level layer is a novel DLO surface placement method based on Euler's elastica solutions. During this process one DLO endpoint is manipulated by the robot gripper while a variable interior point of the DLO serves as the start point of the portion aligned with the placement surface. The low-level layer forms a pipeline controller. The controller estimates the DLO current shape using a Residual Neural Network (ResNet) and uses low-level feedback to ensure task execution in the presence of modeling and placement errors. The resulting DLO placement approach can recover from states where the high-level manipulation planner has failed as required by practical robot manipulation systems. The DLO placement approach is demonstrated with simulations and experiments that use silicon mock-up objects prepared for fresh food applications.

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I. Grinberg, A. Levin, E. D. Rimon. 2025-03-11. Deformable Linear Object Surface Placement Using Elastica Planning and Local Shape Control. https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.08545

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