Robotics: Science and Systems XIX

Learning Fine-Grained Bimanual Manipulation with Low-Cost Hardware

Tony Z. Zhao, Vikash Kumar, Sergey Levine, Chelsea Finn

Abstract:

Fine manipulation tasks, such as threading cable ties or slotting a battery, are notoriously difficult for robots because they require precision, careful coordination of contact forces, and closed-loop visual feedback. Performing these tasks typically requires high-end robots, accurate sensors, or careful calibration, which can be expensive and difficult to set up. Can learning enable low-cost and imprecise hardware to perform these fine manipulation tasks? We present a low-cost system that performs end-to-end imitation learning directly from real demonstrations, collected with a custom teleoperation interface. Imitation learning, however, presents its own challenges, particularly in high-precision domains: the error of the policy can compound over time, drifting out of the training distribution. To address this challenge, we develop a simple yet novel algorithm Action Chunking with Transformers (ACT) which reduces the effective horizon by predicting actions in chunks. This allows us to learn difficult tasks such as opening a translucent condiment cup and slotting a battery with 80-90% success, with only 10 minutes worth of demonstration data. Project website: https://tonyzhaozh.github.io/aloha/

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Bibtex:

  
@INPROCEEDINGS{Zhao-RSS-23, 
    AUTHOR    = {Tony Z. Zhao AND Vikash Kumar AND Sergey Levine AND Chelsea Finn}, 
    TITLE     = {{Learning Fine-Grained Bimanual Manipulation with Low-Cost Hardware}}, 
    BOOKTITLE = {Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems}, 
    YEAR      = {2023}, 
    ADDRESS   = {Daegu, Republic of Korea}, 
    MONTH     = {July}, 
    DOI       = {10.15607/RSS.2023.XIX.016} 
}