CONTACT FORCE CANONICAL DECOMPOSITION AND THE ROLE OF INTERNAL FORCESIN ROBUST GRASP PLANNING PROBLEMS

This article addresses the problem of grasping rigid objects using rob ot hands. A new formalism is presented that is suitable for representi ng the space of the contact forces that allow a grasped object to perf orm an assigned motion, and emphasis is placed on the advantages to be gained from this formalism when planning a ''robust grasp.'' In parti cular a ''canonical'' representation of the space of so-called interna l forces is given. Within this framework, an algorithm is proposed for the determination of feasible grasping and manipulation forces.