A robotic system for automated bed-making using a gripper specialized for textile manipulation

Abstract

Robots are expected to perform a variety of household tasks. Tasks such as bed making and tucking textile layers during seat manufacture represent a particular challenge, as they require both sensitive manipulation and strong pushing capabilities. In this paper, we present a robotic solution for automated bed making with a force-sensing robot arm and an end effector for textile manipulation, which can manipulate textiles, as well as apply high forces to tuck a textile into a small space. The system can also use its fingertips to confirm grasp success by detecting the grasped material. The end effector design is available open source. We experimentally confirm the proposal’s effectiveness in the last part of the bed making task.