Abstract of Misimi's talk

Talk title: Gentle Robotic Manipulation of Food: Challenges and Prospects.

Abstract: The robotic manipulation of deformable food objects is currently in huge demand. Food objects exhibit high levels of frailness characterized by high biological variation, complex geometrical 3D shapes, and mechanical structures and texture and can be regarded as a special and challenging class of deformable objects. For these reasons, introducing greater levels of robotic manipulation capability in the food objects’ manipulation domain remains an important research challenge. Manipulation of these objects often fails due to the need to adapt to the deformation of the objects during manipulation in real-time, the need for perfect positioning of end-effectors, before and during manipulation, to preserve the object’s integrity and quality, and the processing of rich contact forces between the robot and the object during manipulation. Excessive forces can damage these fragile objects, so it is crucial to carefully balance the applied forces to preserve their quality. In this talk, we explore the concept of Gentle Robotic Manipulation for food objects, showcasing compelling examples and highlighting key challenges, as well as proposing some new prospects that can enable a more reliable robotic food object manipulation.