Slides
Manipulation planning from high-level task specifications, even though highly desirable, is a challenging problem. The large dimensionality of manipulators and complexity of task specifications make the problem computationally intractable. This work introduces a manipulation planning framework with linear temporal logic (LTL) specifications. The use of LTL as the specification language allows the expression of rich and complex manipulation tasks. The framework deals with the state-explosion problem through a novel abstraction technique and a synergistic multi-layered planning architecture. Case studies show that this planner efficiently computes plans for complex tasks. These case studies also illustrate the ability of the framework in intelligently moving away objects that block desired executions without requiring backtracking.