Competition format

The 2023 Robotic Grasping and Manipulation Competition (RGMC) consists of two tracks, “The Cloth Manipulation Track” and “The Manufacturing Track”. Each track focuses on industry related tasks that test a robot systems ability to grasp, manipulate, perceive, assemble and/or disassemble objects of interest. Teams compete for points based on their ability to complete the sub-tasks of the track. The goal of the competition is to push research to meet the needs of industry through the benchmarking of task performance.

The competition will be held virtually, so that teams are able to use their own setup. We will connect remotely to each team during the competition week.

Manufacturing Track

There will be two manufacturing sub-tasks in the competition, Assembly and Disassembly of a NIST Task Board (NTB) that contains threaded fasteners, pegs of various geometries, electrical connectors, wire connections and routing, and a flexible belt with a tensioner.

A pre-competition design will be made available for selected teams to continue development of their systems leading up to the competition. A separate competition board with modified assembly positions (very similar to the pre-competition NTB), and new parts (identical to all parts used in practice), will be supplied prior to the scheduled competition run.

Shipments schedule:

  • Practice boards sent out: 30th March 2023
  • Competition boards sent out: 25th April 2023

Details of the setups, tasks, scoring and registration can be found HERE.

Registration

Teams must apply to compete in the Manufacturing Track by sending the information indicated HERE.

Cloth Manipulation and Perception Track

The cloth manipulation track tests a system capability in the perception and/or manipulation of textiles. Specifically, the track consists on unfolding and folding rectangular clothes from the Household Cloth Object Set. Our intention is to identify and gather the community, so we look for an easy entry point where participants are able to participate if they are interested in perception, manipulation, or both. This track consists on three tasks:

  • Grasp point detection: Selecting a suitable grasping point on a cloth.
  • Unfolding: Grasping the cloth and manipulating it until it is placed flat on the table.
  • Folding: Folding the cloth on the table following the folding protocol.

All participants will receive for free a set of the Household Cloth Object Set that they can keep after the competition. The set is a collection of rectangular cloth objects that can be found in any house and span a wide variety of sizes and yarns.

Details of the setups, tasks and scoring can be found HERE.

Registration

Groups working on perception or manipulation of cloth-like objects are equally welcome to participate in one or multiple of the tasks.

Applicant teams to the Cloth Manipulation and Perception Track have to fill in the Registration Form providing your team information, a brief description of the technology that will be used and the shipping information in order to send the cloth set.

Important dates

  • Registration deadline: 31th March 2023
  • Acceptance announcement: 3rd April 2023
  • Dry run: 8th-12th May 2023
  • Competition: 30th May- 2nd June 2023

Organizing Committee

Irene Garcia-Camacho (point of contact for Cloth Track igarcia@iri.upc.edu)

Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (CSIC-UPC)

Kenneth Kimble (point of contact for Manufacturing Track kenneth.kimble@nist.gov)

National Institute of Standards annd Technology (NIST)

Júlia Borràs

Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (CSIC-UPC)

Berk Calli

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Adam Norton

University of Massachusetts Lowell

Guillem Alenyà

Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (CSIC-UPC)