Title: Towards footwear manufacturing 4.0: shoe sole robotic grasping in assembling operations
Author: Guillermo Oliver, Pablo Gil, Jose F. Gomez, Fernando Torres
Journal: The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 2021

Abstract: In this paper, we present a robotic workcell for task automation in footwear manufacturing such as sole digitization, glue dispensing, and sole manipulation from different places within the factory plant. We aim to make progress towards shoe industry 4.0. To achieve it, we have implemented a novel sole grasping method, compatible with soles of different shapes, sizes, and materials, by exploiting the particular characteristics of these objects. Our proposal is able to work well with low density point clouds from a single RGBD camera and also with dense point clouds obtained from a laser scanner digitizer. The method computes antipodal grasping points from visual data in both cases and it does not require a previous recognition of sole. It relies on sole contour extraction using concave hulls and measuring the curvature on contour areas. Our method was tested both in a simulated environment and in real conditions of manufacturing at INESCOP facilities, processing 20 soles with different sizes and characteristics. Grasps were performed in two different configurations, obtaining an average score of 97.5% of successful real grasps for soles without heel made with materials of low or medium flexibility. In both cases, the grasping method was tested without carrying out tactile control throughout the task.

Paper at Springer

Title: 3D reconstruction of deformable objects from RGB-D cameras: an omnidirectional inward-facing multi-camera system
Authors: Eva Curto, Helder Araujo
Conference: 16th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (VISAPP’2021)

Abstract: This is a paper describing a system made up of several inward-facing cameras able to perform reconstruction of deformable objects through synchronous acquisition of RGBD data. The configuration of the camera system allows the acquisition of 3D omnidirectional images of the objects. The paper describes the structure of the system as well as an approach for the extrinsic calibration, which allows the estimation of the coordinate transformations between the cameras. Reconstruction results are also presented.
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Title: Intel RealSense SR305, D415 and L515: Experimental evaluation and comparison of depth estimation
Authors: Francisco Lourenco, Helder Araujo
Conference: 16th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (VISAPP’2021)

Abstract: In the last few years Intel has launched several low cost RGB-D cameras. Three of these cameras are the SR305, the L415 and the L515. These three cameras are based on different operating principles. The SR305 is based on structured light projection, the D415 is based on stereo based using also the projection of random dots and the L515 is based on LIDAR. In addition they all provide RGB images. In this paper we perform and experimental analysis and comparison of the depth estimation by the three cameras.
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Title: RGB-D Sensing of Challenging Deformable Objects

Authors: Ignacio Cuiral-Zueco and Gonzalo Lopez-Nicolas

Workshop: Workshop on Managing deformation: A step towards higher robot autonomy (MaDef), 25 October – 25 December, 2020

Abstract: The problem of deformable object tracking is prominent in recent robot shape-manipulation research. Additionally, texture-less objects that undergo large deformations and movements lead to difficult scenarios. Three RGB-D sequences of different challenging scenarios are processed in order to evaluate the robustness and versatility of a deformable object tracking method. Everyday objects of different complex characteristics are manipulated and tracked. The tracking system, pushed out the comfort zone, performs satisfactorily.

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Title: Experimental multi-camera setup for perception of dynamic objects

Authors: Rafael Herguedas, Gonzalo Lopez-Nicolas and Carlos Sagues

Workshop: Robotic Manipulation of Deformable Objects (ROMADO), 25 October – 25 December, 2020

Abstract: Currently,  perception  and  manipulation  of  dynamic  objects  represent  an  open  research  problem.  In this paper,  we  show  a  proof  of  concept  of  a  multi-camera  robotic setup   which   is   intended   to   perform   coverage   of   dynamic objects.  The  system  includes  a  set  of  RGB-D  cameras,  which are  positioned  and  oriented  to  cover  the  object’s  contour  as required  in  terms  of  visibility.  An algorithm of a previous study allows us to minimize and configure the cameras so that collisions and occlusions are avoided. We test the validity of the platform with the Robot Operating System (ROS) in simulations with  the  software  Gazebo  and  in  real  experiments  with  Intel RealSense  modules.

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