  This paper proposes a general approach to design automatic controls to
manipulate elastic objects into desired shapes. The object's geometric model is
defined as the shape feature based on the specific task to globally describe
the deformation. Raw visual feedback data is processed using classic regression
methods to identify parameters of data-driven geometric models in real-time.
Our proposed method is able to analytically compute a pose-shape Jacobian
matrix based on implicit functions. This model is then used to derive a shape
servoing controller. To validate the proposed method, we report a detailed
experimental study with robotic manipulators deforming an elastic rod.
