Handling Perception Uncertainty in Simulation-Based Singulation Planning for Robotic Bin Picking

Published

March 15, 2018

Author(s)

Nithyananda B. Kumbla, Shantanu Thakar, Krishnanand N. Kaipa, Jeremy Marvel, Satyandra K. Gupta

Abstract

Robotic bin picking requires using a perception system to estimate the posture of parts in the bin. The selected singulation plan should be robust with respect to perception uncertainties. If the estimated posture is significantly different from the actual posture, then the singulation plan may fail during execution. In such cases, the singulation process will need to be repeated. We are interested in selecting singulation plans that minimize the expected task completion time. In order to estimate the expected task completion time for a proposed singulation plan, we need to estimate the probability of success and the plan execution time. Robotic bin picking needs to be done in real-time. Therefore, candidate singulation plans need to be generated and evaluated in real-time. This paper presents an approach for utilizing computationally efficient simulations for generating singulation plans. Results from physical experiments match well with predictions obtained from simulations.

Citation

ASME Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering

Volume

18

Issue

2

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4038954

Local Download

Keywords

Robotic bin picking, robotic grasp planning, perception uncertainty

Citation

Kumbla, N. , Thakar, S. , Kaipa, K. , Marvel, J. and Gupta, S. (2018), Handling Perception Uncertainty in Simulation-Based Singulation Planning for Robotic Bin Picking, ASME Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering, [online], https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4038954, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=924936 (Accessed October 24, 2025)