Example Plan

A plan is a sequence of squeeze actions. Consider a rectangular part whose initial orientation is unknown. For this part there is a two-step plan such that the part's major axis is aligned with the gripper regardless of the part's initial orientation (Figure 4). The planning algorithm finds such a plan for any polygonal part.

Figure 4: Top view of a plan for feeding rectangular parts. Gripper orientation is shown with two parallel lines. Four traces of a two-step plan for orienting the part. Each trace runs from top to bottom. The plan is open-loop; commanded actions do not depend on sensor data. Although the part's initial orientation is different in each trace, its final orientation is the same.