Contour Tracking of Soft Sheet Materials Using Local Contour Image Data

Fumiaki Osawa; Kazunori Kano

doi:10.20965/ijat.2012.p0654

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IJAT Vol.6 No.5 pp. 654-661

doi: 10.20965/ijat.2012.p0654

(2012)

Paper:

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Contour Tracking of Soft Sheet Materials Using Local Contour Image Data

Fumiaki Osawa and Kazunori Kano

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Daido University, 10-3 Takiharu-cho, Minami-ku, Nagoya 457-8530, Japan

Received:

March 15, 2012

Accepted:

June 28, 2012

Published:

September 5, 2012

Keywords:

soft sheet materials, cloth, hand-eye, contour tracking, spreading operation

Abstract

Technologies related to the handling of cloth products still rely on human hands in the apparel industry and in the fields of medicine, welfare, and nursing care; hence, the automation of these technologies is strongly desired. However, the cloth material in question is characteristically non-linear and anisotropic, so it is not easy to predict its dynamic deformation. Therefore, no guidelines for integrated methods of using robots to handle cloth material have been established. In this paper, we propose a method of tracking the contour of a piece of cloth that has curved edges. The aim of the method is to spread soft, flat objects of different shapes, such as clothes. We show contour extraction performed by a camera mounted on a fingertip of a robot hand and operational plan of a manipulator on the basis of the extracted information. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated by extracting the contour of a piece of patterned cloth, controlling the hand direction and the depth of grasp, and tracking the contour of a piece of cloth with partly curved edges.

Cite this article as:

F. Osawa and K. Kano, “Contour Tracking of Soft Sheet Materials Using Local Contour Image Data,” Int. J. Automation Technol., Vol.6 No.5, pp. 654-661, 2012.

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References

[1] J. K. Parker, R. Dubey, F. W. Paul, and R. J. Becker, “Robotic Fabric Handling for Automation Garment Manufacturing,” Trans. of ASME J. of Engineering for Industry, Vol.105, pp. 21-26, 1983.
[2] E. Torgerson and F. W. Paul, “Vision Guided Robotic Manipulation for Apparel Manufacturing,” Proc. 1987 IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Vol.2, pp. 1196-1202, 1987.
[3] G. J. Monkman, “Robot Grippers for Use with Fibrous Materials,” Int. J. of Robotics Research, Vol.14, No.2, pp. 144-151, 1995.
[4] N. Fahantidis et al., “Robot handling of Flat Textile Materials,” IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, pp. 34-41, 1997.
[5] K. Paraschidis et al., “A Robotic System for Handling Textile Materials,” Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Vol.3, pp. 1769-1774, 1995.
[6] P. M. Taylor (Eds.), “Sensory Robotics for the Handling of Limp Materials,” Springer-Verlag, pp. 3-138, 1990.
[7] E. Ono, N. Kita, and S. Sakane, “Strategy for unfolding a fabric piece by cooperative sensing of touch and vision,” Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 441-445, 1995.
[8] S. Hata, J. Hayashi, H. Hojoh, and T. Hamada, “Design of Cloth Handling Robot System,” IEEE Int. Conf. on Industrial Technology, pp. 1611-1616, 2010.
[9] M. Shibata, T. Ota, Y. Endo, and S. Hirai, “Handling of Hemmed Fabrics by a Single-Armed Robot,” Proc. IEEE Conf. on Automation Science and Engineering, pp. 882-887, 2008.
[10] K. Salleh, H. Seki, Y. Kamiya, and M. Hikizu, “Tracing Manipulation in Clothes Spreading by Robot Arms,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.18, No.5, pp. 564-571, 2006.
[11] T. Kabaya and M. Kakikura, “Service Robot for Housekeeping – Clothing Handling –,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.10, No.3, pp. 252-257, 1998.
[12] K. Hamajima and M. Kakikura, “Planning Strategy for Task Untangling Laundry – Isolating Clothes from a Washed Mass –,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.10, No.3, pp. 244-251, 1998.
[13] K. Hamajima and M. Kakikura, “Planning Strategy for Task Untangling Clothes – Classification of Clothes –,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.12, No.5, pp. 577-584, 2000.
[14] Y. Kita, T. Ueshiba, E. S. Neo, and N. Kita, “A method for handling a specific part of clothing by dual arms,” Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 4180-4185, 2009.
[15] Y. Sugiura, T. Igarashi, H. Takahashi, T. A. Gowon, C. L. Fernando, M. Sugimoto, and M. Inami, “Graphical Instruction for A Garment Folding Robot,” ACM SIGGRAPH 2009 Emerging Technologies, 2009.
[16] F. Osawa, H. Seki, and Y. Kamiya, “Folding Tasks for the Clothes by a Robot using Tools,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.18, No.5, pp. 618-625, 2006.
[17] F. Osawa, H. Seki, and Y. Kamiya, “Unfolding of Massive Laundry and Classification Types by Dual Manippulator,” J. of Advanced Computational Intelligence and Intelligent Informatics, Vol.11, No.5, pp. 457-463, 2007.
[18] JIS L 1096, “Testing methods for woven and knitted fabrics.” 660 Int.

This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationa License.

[1] [1] J. K. Parker, R. Dubey, F. W. Paul, and R. J. Becker, “Robotic Fabric Handling for Automation Garment Manufacturing,” Trans. of ASME J. of Engineering for Industry, Vol.105, pp. 21-26, 1983.

[2] [2] E. Torgerson and F. W. Paul, “Vision Guided Robotic Manipulation for Apparel Manufacturing,” Proc. 1987 IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Vol.2, pp. 1196-1202, 1987.

[3] [3] G. J. Monkman, “Robot Grippers for Use with Fibrous Materials,” Int. J. of Robotics Research, Vol.14, No.2, pp. 144-151, 1995.

[4] [4] N. Fahantidis et al., “Robot handling of Flat Textile Materials,” IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, pp. 34-41, 1997.

[5] [5] K. Paraschidis et al., “A Robotic System for Handling Textile Materials,” Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Vol.3, pp. 1769-1774, 1995.

[6] [6] P. M. Taylor (Eds.), “Sensory Robotics for the Handling of Limp Materials,” Springer-Verlag, pp. 3-138, 1990.

[7] [7] E. Ono, N. Kita, and S. Sakane, “Strategy for unfolding a fabric piece by cooperative sensing of touch and vision,” Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 441-445, 1995.

[8] [8] S. Hata, J. Hayashi, H. Hojoh, and T. Hamada, “Design of Cloth Handling Robot System,” IEEE Int. Conf. on Industrial Technology, pp. 1611-1616, 2010.

[9] [9] M. Shibata, T. Ota, Y. Endo, and S. Hirai, “Handling of Hemmed Fabrics by a Single-Armed Robot,” Proc. IEEE Conf. on Automation Science and Engineering, pp. 882-887, 2008.

[10] [10] K. Salleh, H. Seki, Y. Kamiya, and M. Hikizu, “Tracing Manipulation in Clothes Spreading by Robot Arms,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.18, No.5, pp. 564-571, 2006.

[11] [11] T. Kabaya and M. Kakikura, “Service Robot for Housekeeping – Clothing Handling –,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.10, No.3, pp. 252-257, 1998.

[12] [12] K. Hamajima and M. Kakikura, “Planning Strategy for Task Untangling Laundry – Isolating Clothes from a Washed Mass –,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.10, No.3, pp. 244-251, 1998.

[13] [13] K. Hamajima and M. Kakikura, “Planning Strategy for Task Untangling Clothes – Classification of Clothes –,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.12, No.5, pp. 577-584, 2000.

[14] [14] Y. Kita, T. Ueshiba, E. S. Neo, and N. Kita, “A method for handling a specific part of clothing by dual arms,” Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 4180-4185, 2009.

[15] [15] Y. Sugiura, T. Igarashi, H. Takahashi, T. A. Gowon, C. L. Fernando, M. Sugimoto, and M. Inami, “Graphical Instruction for A Garment Folding Robot,” ACM SIGGRAPH 2009 Emerging Technologies, 2009.

[16] [16] F. Osawa, H. Seki, and Y. Kamiya, “Folding Tasks for the Clothes by a Robot using Tools,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.18, No.5, pp. 618-625, 2006.

[17] [17] F. Osawa, H. Seki, and Y. Kamiya, “Unfolding of Massive Laundry and Classification Types by Dual Manippulator,” J. of Advanced Computational Intelligence and Intelligent Informatics, Vol.11, No.5, pp. 457-463, 2007.

[18] [18] JIS L 1096, “Testing methods for woven and knitted fabrics.” 660 Int.