Nonprehensile dynamic manipulation of a sheet-like viscoelastic object

This paper discusses a nonprehensile dynamic manipulation of a deformable object, where the object is remotely manipulated on a plate attached at the tip of a bar. We have found that the object's deformation generated by dynamic effects can drastically contribute to a fast and stable object rotation. We introduce a new simulation model for a sheetlike object, where the object is constructed of multiple nodes connected by three DOFs viscoelastic joint units. We apply the model to real food after the viscoelastic parameters are estimated. Then, simulation analysis is used to show how the object's rotation behavior changes with respect to the plate's motion frequency, similar to the motion of human legs sliding, walking, and running. Finally we obtain an optimum plate motion leading to the maximal angular velocity of the object. We also reveal that an appropriate angular acceleration of the plate is essential for a dynamically stable and fast object rotation.