Learning how to grasp based on neural network retraining

Abstract

Humans have an incredible capacity to manipulate objects using dextrous hands. A large number of studies indicate that robot learning by demonstration is a promising strategy to improve robotic manipulation and grasping performance. Concerning this subject we can ask: How does a robot learn how to grasp? This work presents a method that allows a robot to learn new grasps. The method is based on neural network retraining. With this approach we aim to enable a robot to learn new grasps through a supervisor. The proposed method can be applied for 2D and 3D cases. Extensive object databases were generated to evaluate the method performance in both 2D and 3D cases. A total of 8100 abstract shapes were generated for 2D cases and 11700 abstract shapes for 3D cases. Simulation results with a computational supervisor show that a robotic system can learn new grasps and improve its performance through the proposed HRH (Hopfield-RBF-Hopfield) grasp learning approach.