This paper considers the automatic generation of motion paths for several cooperating robot arms to manipulate a movable object between two configurations among obstacles. To avoid collisions the robots may have to change their grasp of the object, for example, by passing it from one arm to another. The case where the movable object can only be moved by two arms acting simultaneously is also considered. An approach for solving this planning problem is described and illustrated with a robot system made of three arms moving in a 3D environment. Experiments with a planner implementing this approach show that it is not only fast, but also reliable in finding collision-free paths.>

We apply manipulation planning to computer animation. A new path planner is presented that automatically computes the collision-free trajectories for several cooperating arms to manipulate a movable object between two configurations. This implemented planner is capable of dealing with complicated tasks where regrasping is involved. In addition, we present a new inverse kinematics algorithm for the human arms. This algorithm is utilized by the planner for the generation of realistic human arm motions as they manipulate objects. We view our system as a tool for facilitating the production of animation.

The problem of dual-arm manipulation planning is to plan the path of two cooperating robot arms to carry a moveable object from a given initial configuration to a given goal configuration amidst obstacles. The authors survey previous work in manipulation planning and relate it to this analysis. A formal configuration space presentation of the problem is given. Three implemented planners are described. These three planners operated in a two-dimensional workspace and addressed increasingly difficult versions of the dual-arm manipulation problem. They were implemented in the C language. Execution times given were obtained by running them on a DEC 5000 workstation.>