Bimanual manipulation and hand-off placement planning

Two manipulators working together can double the throughput of a cell, reach places a single arm cannot, and reorient a part simply by passing it from one hand to the other. Poorly coordinated, they get in each other's way: collisions, waiting, wasted motion. This project studies when the two arms should cooperate and when they should work independently. You will develop planning methods that decide where and when an object should be handed over so as to minimize total execution time.

Bimanual manipulation is the current frontier of both industrial robotics and humanoid robots: assembling products that genuinely need two hands, high-rate order picking, handling deformable objects, and every task a person performs with two hands without a second thought.

The lab provides a dual-manipulator cell on a shared structure, with motion capture to measure coordination and hand-off accuracy precisely.

How to apply

To apply, send a complete application for the NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) Doctoral Program (written in English) to Prof. Philippe Nadeau. The CGS is the primary funding mechanism for PhD students in Canada, and competition for it is fierce. Preparing a full application up front may look like extra work, but it pays off: you'll arrive with a strong first draft of your CGS application well ahead of the deadline, improving your odds of being funded by the time you join the group.

Note: If you are considering applying for a Master's with thesis, the same steps apply but we will be using your application package to apply for the appropriate funding sources.