High-level planning for dextrous manipulation

The development of mechanical end effectors capable of dextrous manipulation is a rapidly growing and quite successful field of research. It has in some sense put the focus on control issues, in particular, how to control these remarkably anthropomorphic manipulators to perform the deft movement that we take for granted in the human hand. The objective of this paper is the creation of a framework within which constraints involving the manipulator, the object, and the hand/object interaction can be exploited to direct a goal oriented manipulation. The analysis here is targeted for the Utah/MIT dextrous manipulator, but will support any general purpose dextrous manipulation system?.