High-Speed Scooping Through Dynamic Manipulation: Model and Practice

This study introduces a robotic high-speed scooping technique, an effective solution for rapidly picking thin objects from a hard support surface. High-speed scooping involves dynamic and impactful manipulation using a two-fingered gripper. One digit dynamically penetrates beneath the object lying on a support surface while the other digit helps form a cage and subsequently secures a firm grip. This entire process is executed within a fractional-second time frame. We develop a theoretical model of manipulation for high-speed scooping and implement it using our custom direct-drive gripper designed for enhanced environment-adaptability. Extensive experiments verify the viability of our high-speed scooping approach.