Analysis by Simulation Approach to Inferring Functions of an Articulated Objects.

Recently, there are growing needs for haptic exploration to estimate and extract physical object properties such as mass, friction, elasticity, and function, etc.. In this paper, we propose a novel ”analysis by simulation” approach to inferring function of articulated objects, through realitybased interactions for function tests in virtual environments. Function inferred as a result of virtual function tests should be consistent with that inferred in the real world, because such interactions are simulated and generated according to: 1)the real intension and real action taken by the agent, and also 2)the real geometrical and real physical object properties obtained from observation of their behaviors in the real world. We applied the proposed method to inferring multiple funciotns of a pair of nutcrackers and a pair of tongs, such as ”pinch”, ”hold”, ”carry” and ”crash” etc.. Experimental results demonstrate the vilidity, effectiveness and performance of the proposed approach.