This paper presents the technique of flex-and-flip manipulation. It is suitable for grasping thin, flexible linear objects lying on a flat surface. During the manipulation process, the object is first flexed by a robotic gripper whose fingers are placed on top of it, and later the increased internal energy of the object helps the gripper obtain a stable pinch grasp while the object flips into the space between the fingers. The dynamic interaction between the flexible object and the gripper is elaborated by analyzing how energy is exchanged. We also discuss the condition on friction to prevent loss of contact. Our flex-and-flip manipulation technique can be implemented with open-loop control and lends itself to underactuated, compliant finger mechanism. A set of experiments in robotic page turning performed with our customized hardware and software system demonstrates the effectiveness and robustness of the manipulation technique.

翻译：本文提出了一种弯折翻转操作技术，适用于抓取平放在平坦表面上的细长柔性线状物体。在操作过程中，机器人夹爪首先将手指放置于物体上方使其弯曲，随后物体内部储存的能量增加，协助夹爪在物体翻转至手指之间的同时完成稳定的捏取。通过分析能量交换过程，详细阐述了柔性物体与夹爪之间的动态交互作用。本文还讨论了防止接触失效的摩擦条件。该弯折翻转操作技术可通过开环控制实现，并适用于欠驱动柔性手指机构。基于定制化软硬件系统进行的机器人翻页实验，验证了该操作技术的有效性与鲁棒性。