  In this paper, we presented a new method for deformation control of
deformable objects, which utilizes both visual and tactile feedback. At
present, manipulation of deformable objects is basically formulated by assuming
positional constraints. But in fact, in many situations manipulation has to be
performed under actively applied force constraints. This scenario is considered
in this research. In the proposed scheme a tactile feedback is integrated to
ensure a stable contact between the robot end-effector and the soft object to
be manipulated. The controlled contact force is also utilized to regulate the
deformation of the soft object with its shape measured by a vision sensor. The
effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by a book page turning and
shaping experiment.
