Thesis Defense - Neha Sunil - Deformable Object Manipulation with a Tactile Reactive Gripper скачать в хорошем качестве

Thesis Defense - Neha Sunil - Deformable Object Manipulation with a Tactile Reactive Gripper

May 14, 2025 Title: Deformable Object Manipulation with a Tactile Reactive Gripper 0:00 Introduction 2:48 Thesis Presentation 44:49 Acknowledgements 47:42 Q&A Abstract: Manipulating deformable objects remains a fundamental challenge in robotics, as techniques developed for rigid objects often fail to generalize. Deformable objects exhibit infinite-dimensional configuration spaces, frequent self-occlusion, and high model uncertainty, making global state estimation and predictive modeling unreliable. To address these challenges, we propose a perception-driven framework that combines global visual understanding with local tactile feedback. Rather than modeling the full configuration of the object, we leverage local constraints, grounded in modular visual and tactile representations, to enable robust, reactive, and generalizable manipulation. The primary contributions of this work include cable following, towel edge tracing, visuotactile grasp affordances, dense object correspondences, and behavior architecture and planning Interfaces. Collectively, these contributions show that global state estimation and dynamics prediction are not required for reliable deformable manipulation. Instead, semantically meaningful local interactions, guided by modular visual and tactile representations, can drive scalable, long-horizon behaviors across varied objects, configurations, and tasks.