Intelligence lies not only in the brain (decision-making processes) but in the body (physical morphology). The morphology of robots can significantly influence how they interact with the physical world, crucial for manipulating objects in real-life scenarios. Conventional robotic manipulation strategies mainly rely on finger-shaped end effectors. However, achieving stable grasps on fragile, deformable, irregularly shaped, or slippery objects is challenging due to difficulty in establishing stable forces or geometric constraints. Here, we present surface-based manipulation strategies that diverge from classical grasping approaches, using flat surfaces as minimalist end-effectors. By adjusting surfaces' position and orientation, objects can be translated, rotated, and flipped across the surface using closed-loop control strategies. Since this method does not rely on stable grasping, it can adapt to objects of various shapes, sizes, and stiffness levels and can even manipulate the shape of deformable objects. Our results provide a new perspective for solving complex manipulation problems.

翻译：智能不仅存在于大脑（决策过程），也体现在身体（物理形态）中。机器人的形态结构能显著影响其与物理世界的交互方式，这对于现实场景中的物体操作至关重要。传统的机器人操作策略主要依赖于手指形状的末端执行器。然而，由于难以建立稳定的力或几何约束，在易碎、可变形、形状不规则或光滑物体上实现稳定抓取具有挑战性。本文提出了一种有别于经典抓取方法的基于表面的操作策略，使用平面作为极简末端执行器。通过调整表面的位置和方向，结合闭环控制策略，物体可在表面上实现平移、旋转和翻转。由于该方法不依赖稳定抓取，因此能适应不同形状、尺寸和刚度的物体，甚至能够操作可变形物体的形态。我们的研究结果为解决复杂操作问题提供了新的视角。