Duplo Bricks Sorting by PR2

Parts sorting is a very old field of research and very accurate vibration-based parts feeders have been designed in industries ([1], [3]). A parts feeder can not only sort but also position and orient bulk parts before they are fed to an assembly station and thus, help in micro-assembly. Work has also been done on sorting parts by shapes using Bayesian techniques and parallel-jaw grippers ([2], [4]). However, these methods assume availability of very specific equipment or require parts to be fed to the feeder one by one. Our goal is to use manipulation as a tool to aid perception in a household environment to understand it better. Sorting duplo bricks, a parts-sorting of a very specific kind, has been demonstrated as an example.