MIT Robot Adjusts Grip on Objects Based on Surroundings

Robotic hands can be rather clumsy. With little more than pincers and claws, they are not exactly known for their dexterity.

With five fingers it’s quite easy for humans to adjust our grip on an object. However, this isn’t typically the case with industrial robots.

In response, MIT engineers have designed a robot algorithm that can adjust a machine grip using the environment to its advantage.

If the robotic arm picks up a rod at the wrong spot it doesn’t have to drop it and pick it up a second time. Instead, the robot can use the algorithm to slightly loosen its grip and push the rod against a nearby wall to slide it into the correct position. The researchers have dubbed this “extrinsic dexterity.”

Professor Alberto Rodriguez and graduate student Nikhil Chavan-Dafle have created an algorithm which can predict the optimal force to adjust the grip of a robot as it pushes the clasped object against its surroundings. The model tracks the interactions between the gripper, the clasped object and external fixtures. The model was then tested with a real gripping robot.

“The agreement was pretty good,” Rodriguez says. “We’ve validated the model. Now we’re working on the planning side, to see how to plan motions to generate certain trajectories. One of the things we want to ask in the future is, ‘How do you engineer fixtures in the environment so that a robot’s motions are more reliable and can be executed faster?’”

The new robotic algorithm has the ability to improve various industries including manufacturing, medicine, disaster response and more. Extrinsic dexterity can allow robots to do more complex movements without additional capital costs opening the door to shrink the size of assembly lines, due to the need of fewer robots and workers.

“Chasing the human hand is still a very valid direction [in robotics],” said Rodriguez. “But if you cannot afford having a $100,000 hand that is very complex to use, this [method] brings some dexterity to very simple grippers.”

The researchers are looking into other movements that can adjust their grip including tossing and catching an object or rolling the object over a surface. However, their current research focuses on “prehensile pushing,” using fixtures to move the grasped object.

“We’re sort of outsourcing that dexterity that you don’t have in the gripper to the environment and the arm,” Rodriguez explains. “Instead of dexterity that’s intrinsic to the hand, it’s extrinsic, in the environment.”

In a recent video, James Anderton, Director of Content at ENGINEERING.com said “People are still more flexible than machines. In modern high flexibility operations humans actually have a significant advantage over robots.” This flexibility that Anderton eludes to is all about how robots are limited to their programming, while human workers can adapt to changing scenarios and job requirements.

This constraint often limits a robot to replacing humans for single tasks. Anderton said, “One for one task replacement will rarely be cost effective in today’s low interest rate environment, given the high capital cost of general purpose robotics.”

With the inclusion of this dexterity model, perhaps it will be possible for the robots to perform multiple tasks in the near future. This brings robots closer to completely replacing human workers.

If this model can be programmed into the robots already on the line then the capital costs are minimal to non-existent. Theoretically, one robot can be repurposed to do multiple tasks as the robot reorients the objects it needs, instead of the assembly line moving the objects to a robot in a different position.

Rodriguez agreed having said, “Exploiting the environment is and will be important for robots and the research community … Any applications where you have limitations in terms of payload, cost, complexity or areas like manufacturing, surgery, field operations or even space exploration — whenever you have a gripper that is not dexterous like a human hand, this [method] gives you some of that dexterity.”

Mozilla testing browser feature to put users in truly private mode

"Tracking," said the Mozilla support page, "is the collection of a person's browsing data across multiple sites, usually via included content. Tracking domains attempt to uniquely identify a person through the use of cookies or other technologies such as fingerprinting."

"All major browsers offer some form of experience that is labeled 'private' but this is typically intended to solve the 'local' privacy case, namely preventing others on a shared computer from seeing traces of your online activity," said the Mozilla blog, announcing their work. "This is a useful solution for many users, but we're experimenting with ways to offer you even more control when they open Private windows."

Mozilla's team in looking for a better solution is offering a Private Browsing feature in pre-beta. Mozilla said on Friday that it is experimenting with new features in pre-beta versions in Firefox Developer Edition on Windows, Mac and Linux and Firefox Aurora on Android.

The new tool in pre-beta builds of Firefox could help block browser tracking across sites.

Zach Miners, who covers search for IDG News Service, reported that Mozilla wants to make private browsing truly private. The block, he said, would affect outside parties such as "ad networks or analytics companies" tracking users through cookies and browser fingerprinting.

The Mozilla blog said, "The experimental Private Browsing enhancements ready for testing today actively block website elements that could be used to record user behavior across sites. This includes elements like content, analytics, social and other services that might be collecting data without your knowledge."

Users, though, can unblock specific websites if they wish. Why would they do this? The blog said, "In some cases, websites might appear broken when elements that track behavior are blocked," while unblocking these would enable one to view the website normally.

"New Experimental Private Browsing and Add-ons Features Ready for Pre-Beta Testing in Firefox" was the title of the blog announcement on August 14. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, meanwhile, has turned its attention to a new standard for the "Do Not Track" browser setting. The IDG News Service earlier this month reported that a group led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation is looking to make that a more meaningful action.

"The EFF and others have published a standard policy it hopes advertisers, analytics companies and publishers will adopt in order to respect the wishes of users who don't want to be tracked online."

As for the pre-beta, Mozilla has asked the testers for feedback to make the experience better for future releases. They have a feedback page for users of the "experimental Private Browsing."

Commented Lee Mathews in Geek.com: "Mozilla's making the assumption (a safe one) that if you've consciously clicked in to a private window that you really, really want your privacy respected."

Mozilla's solution still has a way to go in the development process but, said Mathews, between the approach on the part of Mozilla and the thinking coming from the EFF, "maybe someone will finally come up with a system that works." A workable system amenable to both user and business sides would respect people's privacy wishes but allow publishers to display revenue-generating ads that keep their sites running.