Learning grasping force from demonstration

This paper presents a novel force learning framework to learn fingertip force for a grasping and manipulation process from a human teacher with a force imaging approach. A demonstration station is designed to measure fingertip force without attaching force sensor on fingertips or objects so that this approach can be used with daily living objects. A Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) based machine learning approach is applied on the fingertip force and position to obtain the motion and force model. Then a force and motion trajectory is generated with Gaussian Mixture Regression (GMR) from the learning result. The force and motion trajectory is applied to a robotic arm and hand to carry out a grasping and manipulation task. An experiment was designed and carried out to verify the learning framework by teaching a Fanuc robotic arm and a BarrettHand a pick-and-place task with demonstration. Experimental results show that the robot applied proper motions and forces in the pick-and-place task from the learned model.