This bachelor assignment develops a ground-based, automatic tool-changing “ToolBox” for contact-rich manipulation with a Franka robot. The motivation is that many manipulation tasks cannot be solved robustly with a single end-effector geometry; instead, capability comes from reliably exchanging tools during the task. A recent Nature study (“FlyingToolbox”) demonstrates how autonomous tool docking and exchange can significantly extend what robots can do across multiple tasks by enabling accurate, repeatable tool handovers.
You will design and prototype four interchangeable, 3D-printed tool modules and a bench-mounted tool dock (tool magazine) that allows the Franka parallel gripper to autonomously pick up and return tools using an insert–unlock–grasp–extract routine. The four tools cover the main primitives for plasticine shaping: a pinch/grasp tool (pick, knead, fold), a roller (flatten, smooth), dual spatula/scraper jaws (lift, push, surface correction), and a cutter (preferably a safe wire cutter or a guarded small blade). All tools share a standardized mechanical interface (“tool shank”), while the dock provides a servo-actuated lock/unlock mechanism (with optional spring-assisted push-out) plus simple sensors to confirm “tool present” and “locked/unlocked” states; after each tool change, the robot software switches to the corresponding TCP for consistent motion and contact execution.
The final demonstration is performed on the Franka arm: the robot autonomously changes between the four tools from the dock and executes a short plasticine shaping sequence that highlights reliable tool exchange and contact manipulation.