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arXiv · 2610.10020

Tactile Reconstruction of Contact Task Frames and Forces for Hybrid Force/Motion Control

Antonio Rapuano·Simone Orelli·Barbara Bazzana·Antonio Franchi·Alessandro De Luca
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Abstract

Hybrid force/motion control requires knowledge of the interaction force and of a task frame defining the force- and motion-controlled directions. These quantities are usually obtained from force/torque sensing or model-based residuals, often assuming also a nominal environment model. This work addresses the online estimation of the contact force and a possibly time-varying task frame using only soft optical tactile sensing, under the assumption of locally planar contact with a negligible contact moment. The proposed method maps a single image of the deformed elastomer of a soft optical tactile sensor to observable contact variables: indentation depth, two surface-to-sensor tilt angles, and 3D contact force, each with a per-sample uncertainty estimate. The mapping is learned through a self-labeling acquisition procedure, in which a manipulator imposes controlled contacts while an auxiliary Force/Torque sensor is used offline to provide ground-truth labels. The tactile measurement is then fused with robot proprioceptive data in an Extended Kalman Filter, producing a continuously updated estimate of the contact task frame and of the interaction force. Control experiments with a DigiTac sensor mounted on a UR10 manipulator demonstrate closed-loop contact force regulation against a flat rigid board in linear and angular motion by a human operator, with touch as the only exteroceptive feedback.

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Antonio Rapuano, Simone Orelli, Barbara Bazzana, Antonio Franchi, Alessandro De Luca. 2026-10-07. Tactile Reconstruction of Contact Task Frames and Forces for Hybrid Force/Motion Control. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.10020

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