Direction-Based Hybrid Strategy Combining Pushing and Hitting for Fast Object Singulation

Abstract

This paper presents a hybrid singulation strategy for fast object singulation in a cluttered environment. Recent techniques related to object singulation in clutter have employed various kinds of pushing techniques and in some cases have also used hitting techniques. However, these techniques have not addressed the issue related to the direction of pushing and hitting which is vital for fast object singulation. Finding the appropriate direction of hitting and pushing helps in singulating objects quickly in a cluttered environment. This paper proposes the desired direction for pushing and hitting, combined with a hybrid strategy, that results in fast object singulation in a cluttered environment. The number of times of pushing and hitting in terms of time is chosen as the measure of performance. We employ multiple circular disks as the test example and carry out diverse experiments to corroborate the usefulness of the proposed object singulation algorithm. This approach is able to singulate objects quickly in complex formations. In this paper, we have combined both pushing and hitting and also proposed the direction of hitting and pushing in order to singulate objects in clutter quickly.