Related papers: Approximating Global Contact-Implicit MPC via Samp…
We present a general approach for controlling robotic systems that make and break contact with their environments. Contact-implicit model predictive control (CI-MPC) generalizes linear MPC to contact-rich settings by utilizing a bi-level…
Dexterous in-hand manipulation is an essential skill of production and life. However, the highly stiff and mutable nature of contacts limits real-time contact detection and inference, degrading the performance of model-based methods.…
We begin this paper by presenting our approach to robot manipulation, which emphasizes the benefits of making contact with the world across the entire manipulator. We assume that low contact forces are benign, and focus on the development…
Biomimetic and compliant robotic hands offer the potential for human-like dexterity, but controlling them is challenging due to high dimensionality, complex contact interactions, and uncertainties in state estimation. Sampling-based model…
Dexterous manipulation of objects through fine control of physical contacts is essential for many important tasks of daily living. A fundamental ability underlying fine contact control is compliant control, \textit{i.e.}, controlling the…
Modern, torque-controlled service robots can regulate contact forces when interacting with their environment. Model Predictive Control (MPC) is a powerful method to solve the underlying control problem, allowing to plan for whole-body…
We explore learning-based approaches for feedback control of a dexterous five-finger hand performing non-prehensile manipulation. First, we learn local controllers that are able to perform the task starting at a predefined initial state.…
A significant barrier preventing model-based methods from achieving real-time and versatile dexterous robotic manipulation is the inherent complexity of multi-contact dynamics. Traditionally formulated as complementarity models,…
If we consider human manipulation, it is clear that contact-rich manipulation (CRM)-the ability to use any surface of the manipulator to make contact with objects-can be far more efficient and natural than relying solely on end-effectors…
Sampling-based model-predictive control (MPC) is a promising tool for feedback control of robots with complex, non-smooth dynamics, and cost functions. However, the computationally demanding nature of sampling-based MPC algorithms has been…
Unlike human beings that can employ the entire surface of their limbs as a means to establish contact with their environment, robots are typically programmed to interact with their environments via their end-effectors, in a collision-free…
A key challenge in contact-rich dexterous manipulation is the need to jointly reason over geometry, kinematic constraints, and intricate, nonsmooth contact dynamics. End-to-end visuomotor policies bypass this structure, but often require…
Recent studies on quadruped robots have focused on either locomotion or mobile manipulation using a robotic arm. Legged robots can manipulate heavier and larger objects using non-prehensile manipulation primitives, such as planar pushing,…
Robotic dexterous in-hand manipulation, where multiple fingers dynamically make and break contact, represents a step toward human-like dexterity in real-world robotic applications. Unlike learning-based approaches that rely on large-scale…
Non-prehensile manipulation enables fast interactions with objects by circumventing the need to grasp and ungrasp as well as handling objects that cannot be grasped through force closure. Current approaches to non-prehensile manipulation…
In this paper, we propose a model predictive control (MPC) that accomplishes interactive robotic tasks, in which multiple contacts may occur at unknown locations. To address such scenarios, we made an explicit contact feedback loop in the…
This paper presents a contact-implicit model predictive control (MPC) framework for the real-time discovery of multi-contact motions, without predefined contact mode sequences or foothold positions. This approach utilizes the…
Robots must make and break contact with the environment to perform useful tasks, but planning and control through contact remains a formidable challenge. In this work, we achieve real-time contact-implicit model predictive control with a…
Contact-rich manipulation is challenging due to its high dimensionality, the requirement for long time horizons, and the presence of hybrid contact dynamics. Sampling-based methods have become a popular approach for this class of problems,…
What is a good local description of contact dynamics for contact-rich manipulation, and where can we trust this local description? While many approaches often rely on the Taylor approximation of dynamics with an ellipsoidal trust region, we…