Related papers: Active Extrinsic Contact Sensing: Application to G…

General robot manipulation requires the handling of previously unseen objects. Learning a physically accurate model at test time can provide significant benefits in data efficiency, predictability, and reuse between tasks. Tactile sensing…

Contact can be conceptualized as a set of constraints imposed on two bodies that are interacting with one another in some way. The nature of a contact, whether a point, line, or surface, dictates how these bodies are able to move with…

Robotic assembly of complex, non-convex geometries with tight clearances remains a challenging problem, demanding precise state estimation for successful insertion. In this work, we propose a novel framework that relies solely on contact…

We develop a real-time state estimation system to recover the pose and contact formation of an object relative to its environment. In this paper, we focus on the application of inserting an object picked by a suction cup into a tight space,…

This study addresses contact-rich object insertion tasks under unstructured environments using a robot with a soft wrist, enabling safe contact interactions. For the unstructured environments, we assume that there are uncertainties in…

We present Neural Contact Fields, a method that brings together neural fields and tactile sensing to address the problem of tracking extrinsic contact between object and environment. Knowing where the external contact occurs is a first step…

Humans rely on touch and tactile sensing for a lot of dexterous manipulation tasks. Our tactile sensing provides us with a lot of information regarding contact formations as well as geometric information about objects during any…

Joint estimation of grasped object pose and extrinsic contacts is central to robust and dexterous manipulation. In this paper, we propose a novel state-estimation algorithm that jointly estimates contact location and object pose in 3D using…

This work deals with a practical everyday problem: stable object placement on flat surfaces starting from unknown initial poses. Common object-placing approaches require either complete scene specifications or extrinsic sensor measurements,…

We study the problem of using high-resolution tactile sensors to control the insertion of objects in a box-packing scenario. We propose a new system based on a tactile sensor GelSlim for the dense packing task. In this paper, we propose an…

Grasping objects under uncertainty remains an open problem in robotics research. This uncertainty is often due to noisy or partial observations of the object pose or shape. To enable a robot to react appropriately to unforeseen effects, it…

Active perception approaches select future viewpoints by using some estimate of the information gain. An inaccurate estimate can be detrimental in critical situations, e.g., locating a person in distress. However the true information gained…

Robot-to-human object handover is an essential skill for robot assistants, from serving drinks at home to passing surgical tools in the operating room. We expect robots to perform handover robustly -- to release the object only after a firm…

The development of a generic and effective force model for semi-automatic or manual virtual assembly with haptic support is not a trivial task, especially when the assembly constraints involve complex features of arbitrary shape. The…

We present an active tactile exploration framework for joint object recognition and 6D pose estimation. The proposed method integrates wrist force/torque sensing, GelSight tactile sensing, and free-space constraints within a Bayesian…

Dense collections of movable objects are common in everyday spaces-from cabinets in a home to shelves in a warehouse. Safely retracting objects from such collections is difficult for robots, yet people do it frequently, leveraging learned…

Imitation learning is promising for robotic manipulation, but \emph{precise insertion} in the real world remains difficult due to contact-rich dynamics, tight clearances, and limited demonstrations. Many existing visuomotor policies depend…

High-precision assembly frequently involves tight-tolerance insertions, where even slight pose errors can cause jamming or excessive interaction forces, making robust and safe insertion policies difficult to obtain. This paper proposes a…

Insertion operations are a critical element of most robotic assembly operation, and peg-in-hole (PiH) insertion is one of the most widely studied tasks in the industrial and academic manipulation communities. PiH insertion is in fact an…

Contact-rich assembly of complex, non-convex parts with tight tolerances remains a formidable challenge. Purely model-based methods struggle with discontinuous contact dynamics, while model-free methods require vast data and often lack…