Simulation-Guided Path Optimization for Resolving Interlocked Hook-Shaped Components

Manipulators performing pick-and-place tasks with objects of complex shapes must consider not only how to grasp the objects but also how to maneuver them out of a bin. In this paper, we explore the industrial challenge of picking hook-shaped components, whose interlocking nature often leads to faile...

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Main Authors: Tomas Merva, Peter Jan Sincak, Robert Rakay, Martin Varga, Michal Kelemen, Ivan Virgala
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-04-01
Series:Applied Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/9/4944
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author Tomas Merva
Peter Jan Sincak
Robert Rakay
Martin Varga
Michal Kelemen
Ivan Virgala
author_facet Tomas Merva
Peter Jan Sincak
Robert Rakay
Martin Varga
Michal Kelemen
Ivan Virgala
author_sort Tomas Merva
collection DOAJ
description Manipulators performing pick-and-place tasks with objects of complex shapes must consider not only how to grasp the objects but also how to maneuver them out of a bin. In this paper, we explore the industrial challenge of picking hook-shaped components, whose interlocking nature often leads to failed attempts at safely retrieving a single component at a time. Rather than explicitly modeling contact-rich interactions within optimization-based motion planners, we tackle this challenge by leveraging recent advances in sampling-based optimization and parallelizable physics simulators to predict the impact of motion on the separating subgoal, aimed at resolving interlocking. The proposed framework generates candidate trajectories initialized from a user-provided demonstration, which are then simulated and evaluated in a physics simulator to optimize robot trajectories in joint space while considering the entire planning horizon. We validate our approach through real-world experiments on a manipulator, demonstrating improved success rates in terms of separating interlocked objects compared to the industrial baseline.
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issn 2076-3417
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publishDate 2025-04-01
publisher MDPI AG
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series Applied Sciences
spelling doaj-art-3d307ebfc17d4c71a67abfd01424c7a92025-08-20T01:49:14ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172025-04-01159494410.3390/app15094944Simulation-Guided Path Optimization for Resolving Interlocked Hook-Shaped ComponentsTomas Merva0Peter Jan Sincak1Robert Rakay2Martin Varga3Michal Kelemen4Ivan Virgala5Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Košice, 04200 Košice, SlovakiaFaculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Košice, 04200 Košice, SlovakiaFaculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Košice, 04200 Košice, SlovakiaFaculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Košice, 04200 Košice, SlovakiaFaculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Košice, 04200 Košice, SlovakiaFaculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Košice, 04200 Košice, SlovakiaManipulators performing pick-and-place tasks with objects of complex shapes must consider not only how to grasp the objects but also how to maneuver them out of a bin. In this paper, we explore the industrial challenge of picking hook-shaped components, whose interlocking nature often leads to failed attempts at safely retrieving a single component at a time. Rather than explicitly modeling contact-rich interactions within optimization-based motion planners, we tackle this challenge by leveraging recent advances in sampling-based optimization and parallelizable physics simulators to predict the impact of motion on the separating subgoal, aimed at resolving interlocking. The proposed framework generates candidate trajectories initialized from a user-provided demonstration, which are then simulated and evaluated in a physics simulator to optimize robot trajectories in joint space while considering the entire planning horizon. We validate our approach through real-world experiments on a manipulator, demonstrating improved success rates in terms of separating interlocked objects compared to the industrial baseline.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/9/4944bin pickingmanipulationmotion planningphysics simulations
spellingShingle Tomas Merva
Peter Jan Sincak
Robert Rakay
Martin Varga
Michal Kelemen
Ivan Virgala
Simulation-Guided Path Optimization for Resolving Interlocked Hook-Shaped Components
Applied Sciences
bin picking
manipulation
motion planning
physics simulations
title Simulation-Guided Path Optimization for Resolving Interlocked Hook-Shaped Components
title_full Simulation-Guided Path Optimization for Resolving Interlocked Hook-Shaped Components
title_fullStr Simulation-Guided Path Optimization for Resolving Interlocked Hook-Shaped Components
title_full_unstemmed Simulation-Guided Path Optimization for Resolving Interlocked Hook-Shaped Components
title_short Simulation-Guided Path Optimization for Resolving Interlocked Hook-Shaped Components
title_sort simulation guided path optimization for resolving interlocked hook shaped components
topic bin picking
manipulation
motion planning
physics simulations
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/9/4944
work_keys_str_mv AT tomasmerva simulationguidedpathoptimizationforresolvinginterlockedhookshapedcomponents
AT peterjansincak simulationguidedpathoptimizationforresolvinginterlockedhookshapedcomponents
AT robertrakay simulationguidedpathoptimizationforresolvinginterlockedhookshapedcomponents
AT martinvarga simulationguidedpathoptimizationforresolvinginterlockedhookshapedcomponents
AT michalkelemen simulationguidedpathoptimizationforresolvinginterlockedhookshapedcomponents
AT ivanvirgala simulationguidedpathoptimizationforresolvinginterlockedhookshapedcomponents