An Exploration of Nonprehensile Two-Palm Manipulation: Planning and Execution

Abstract

This paper describes our current research into nonprehensile palm manipulation. The term “palm” refers to the use of the entire device surface during manipulation, as opposed to use of the fingertips alone. The term “nonprehensile” means that the palms hold the object without wrapping themselves around it, as distinguished from a force/from closure grasp often employed by a fingered hand. Indeed, nonprehensile operations such as purposeful sliding and constrained dropping constitute important palm primitives.