Nonprehensile palmar manipulation with a mobile robot

Manipulation is a key capability for mobile robots to perform a greater variety of useful tasks. We consider mobile robots equipped with low degree-of-freedom "palm manipulators." The advantage of using this sort of nonprehensile (i.e. nongrasping) manipulator is its simplicity and versatility. Although in general multiple robots may be needed, the initial work described in the paper considers only a single robot. We formulate the mechanical analysis for manipulating objects and describe a planner for a single robot with a palm manipulator. We conclude with details of our experimental implementation and preliminary results.