TactileBased Insertion for Dense BoxPacking We study the problem of using highresolution tactile sensors to control the insertion of objects in a boxpacking scenario. In this paper, we propose an insertion strategy that leverages tactile sensing to: 1) safely probe the box with the grasped object while monitoring incipient slip to maintain a stable grasp on the object. 2) estimate and correct for residual position uncertainties to insert the object into a designated gap without disturbing the environment.Our proposed methodology is based on two neural networks that estimate the error direction and error magnitude, from a stream of tactile imprints, acquired by two GelSlim fingers, during the insertion process. The system is trained on four objects with basic geometric shapes, which we show generalizes to four other common objects. Based on the estimated positional errors, a heuristic controller iteratively adjusts the position of the object and eventually inserts it successfully without requiring prior knowledge of the geometry of the object. The key insight is that dense tactile feedback contains useful information with respect to the contact interaction between the grasped object and its environment. We achieve high success rate and show that unknown objects can be inserted with an average of 6 attempts of the probecorrect loop. The methodxe2x80x99s ability to generalize to novel objects makes it a good fit for box packing in warehouse automation.

Experimental study on model vs. learningbased slip detection Vision and proprioception are traditional sources of information for robotic grasping, but they are insufficient to achieve a stable grasp without slippage or without applying an excessive force on the object. Tactile sensors can aid in this problem by providing spatial and temporal data on the contact between fingertips and object. In this work, tactile fingertip sensors are used to detect slippage through two separate methods: the first, using principles inspired by human tactile sensing, and the second, by using a convolutional neural network trained with suitably labeled test samples. To perform a fair comparison of the methods, two evaluations are performed using a test bench and a pickandplace robotic application. Results show promising use of the modelbased method to avoid translational slippage, as it was able to consistently keep objects from slipping without overloading the grasp. Limitations of both model and learningbased approaches are identified and discussed.