DUQIM-Net: Probabilistic Object Hierarchy Representation for Multi-View Manipulation

Abstract: Object manipulation in cluttered scenes is a difficult and important problem in robotics. To efficiently manipulate objects, it is crucial to understand their surroundings, especially in cases where multiple objects are stacked one on top of the other, preventing effective grasping. We here present DUQIM-Net, a decision-making approach for object manipulation in a setting of stacked objects. In DUQIM-Net, the hierarchical stacking relationship is assessed using Adj-Net, a model that leverages existing Transformer Encoder-Decoder object detectors by adding an adjacency head. The output of this head probabilistically infers the underlying hierarchical structure of the objects in the scene. We utilize the properties of the adjacency matrix in DUQIM-Net to perform decision making and assist with object-grasping tasks. Our experimental results show that Adj-Net surpasses the state-of-the-art in object-relationship inference on the Visual Manipulation Relationship Dataset (VMRD), and that DUQIM-Net outperforms comparable approaches in bin clearing tasks.