Dynamic High-speed Knotting of a Rope by a Manipulator

In this paper we suggest an entirely new strategy for the dexterous manipulation of a linear flexible object, such as rope or a cable, with a high-speed manipulator. We deal with a flexible rope as one example of the linear flexible object. The strategy involves manipulating the object at highspeed. By moving the robot at high-speed, we can assume that the dynamic behaviour of the flexible rope can be obtained by performing algebraic calculations of the highspeed robot motion. Based on this assumption, we derive a dynamic deformation model of the flexible rope and confirm the validity of the proposed model. Then we perform a simulation of dynamic, high-speed knotting based on the proposed model. We also discuss the possibility of forming the knot based on a simple analysis model. Finally, we show experimental results demonstrating dynamic, high-speed knotting with a high-speed manipulator.