本研究では衣類の折りたたみのタスクの時間短縮を目標とする．衣服の折りたたみ作業は，分離・分類・展開・折りたたみといった４つのタスクに分けることができる．展開と折りたたみに関しては達成時間が長いという問題がある．本研究では，展開は従来手法の最下点認識を効率化することで，折りたたみはロボットに簡易な道具を使わせることで高速化を目指す．また，道具への配置の際の衣服の把持点検出についても述べる．
Robots that lighten the burden of housework are drawing much attention. In particular, putting the laundry away is one of those tasks that could be assisted by housework robots. However, it is difficult to apply conventional manipulation techniques to flexible objects. Thus, so far this task is achieved by complicated recognition and manipulation in many research but such complicated techniques require a lot of time.
This research aim at simplifying the task of putting the laundry away. This main task can be divided into four subtasks, namely "separate", "sort", "spread" and "fold". Spread and fold tasks are impractical because of long execution time. In this research, spread task is carried out by improvement of conventional approach that detect bottom point of cloth, and fold task is carried out by using a folding tool. In addition, grasp point detection is explained.