A DISCRETE-EVENT SYSTEMS-APPROACH TO MODELING DEXTEROUS MANIPULATION

To perform dextrous manipulation efficiently, it is necessary to coord inate the interactions of many component processes. This paper investi gates one approach to coordination: discrete-event systems. The applic ability of discrete-event systems to the modeling of dextrous manipula tion tasks is studied. Discrete-event control theory offers formal met hods for determining whether a coordinator of the components can be ge nerated. A representative dextrous manipulation task, the planar Grasp -Lift-Replace task of Howe and Cutkosky, is presented as a discrete-ev ent process. The task is extended to include two-fingered exploratory procedures. The effectiveness of the discrete-event system approach is illustrated through simulations of several test cases.