Robot Contact Sensing and Force Control: Teaching Machines to Touch Carefully

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The important moment in many robot tasks is not when the robot sees the object. It is when the object pushes back.

A camera can suggest where a cup sits, a planner can choose a path, and an actuator can drive the arm toward the table. None of that proves the robot knows what will happen at contact. The gripper may touch a slippery surface earlier than expected. A box may deform. A peg may meet the rim of a hole instead of the center. A drawer may resist because its runners are dirty. A towel may move with the fingers instead of staying where the robot expected it to be. Contact is where the neat world of estimates becomes a physical argument.

Robot Contact Sensing on Fondsites

Robot Contact Sensing and Force Control: Teaching Machines to Touch Carefully