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FAQ AND TROUBLESHOOTING
RELEASE 1.0.1 — 15 JULY, 2020
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8.5 The demo is not as good as expected
8.5.1 Problem
When dealing the very first times with a soft robotics device, it quickly appears intuitive and easy to use,
but it may require some times to get rid of all of its power and secrets.
If you try to make a demo and it seems that it is not amazing as you have thought before, maybe is just
because you need few tips to mastering in the use of our device.
Here are some tips
—
in no special order
—
to create a better demo with our hand:
8.5.2 Tips
If you are
not
enthusiast with a given grasp, try to adjust the robot pose. You'll get surprisingly
different outcomes with just few changes: e.g. tilting a bit the "pitch" of the wrist would result in a
more natural pose of the hand when it comes close to an object. Moreover, pay attention to the robot
wrist configuration, i.e. you should often be able to choose distinct kinematic configuration when
approaching an object, so try to use the one that gives you more freedom while moving during the
task.
Of course you'll need some practice to get smoother behaviors, but when you have doubts just
"think
human"
: reproduce the task yourself and even if you believe to know what you are doing, try to see
whether your wrist is slightly tilted w.r.t. the expectation or if you approach the object a bit displaced
from its center. If you place the robot hand in a very similar way, you should get a more natural
outcome.
And do this for all the motions in the given task. For example, grasping and moving a joystick
involves linear displacement of the end-effector combined with a proper tilt of the hand pose.
Varying the wrist angles produce a more natural behavior even if the hand seems to be located in a
very similar pose. Try to believe!
Try to
not
hardcode waypoints, at least at the beginning. Even if it seems a symmetrical task or
whatever, just teach the robot by moving it to the pose you want, store that waypoint and goes to the
next. Then iterate the process and correct the ones which are not as expected.
Exploit the environment! One of the main reason to choose a soft robotics device relies in its
adaptability. Our hand is able to pick even a paper from a table if you make human-like gestures; to
do so, you need to being in contact also with the table instead of trying to avoid it as with usual
industrial gripper.
If you have trouble when choosing how much the hand needs to be closed, just go
"step-by-step"
with
pre-grasp phases, like the following example:
