Push, Press, Slide: Mode-Aware Planar Contact Manipulation via Reduced-Order Models

2026-03-12

AI Summary

This work addresses the high-dimensional control challenges in non-prehensile planar manipulation arising from hybrid contact mechanics, underactuation, and friction asymmetry. The authors propose a mode-aware single- and dual-arm manipulation framework that abstracts complex contacts into discrete modes via contact topology selection and represents system kinematics using reduced-order nonholonomic models, such as the unicycle model. For the first time, the wrench-twist limit surface is simplified into a discrete model library, enabling real-time trajectory generation and force distribution without iterative optimization. This is achieved by integrating an algebraic contact force allocator with manipulator kinematic constraints. Simulations demonstrate the method’s efficiency, feasibility, and iteration-free advantage across diverse planar manipulation tasks.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Manipulation
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Mixed Discrete/Continuous Planning
• Humans and AI: Human-Aware Planning and Behavior Prediction

Application Category

• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs
• Responsible Web: Human-perceived consequences of algorithmic deployment on the web
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments

Abstract

Non-prehensile planar manipulation, including pushing and press-and-slide, is critical for diverse robotic tasks, but notoriously challenging due to hybrid contact mechanics, under-actuation, and asymmetric friction limits that traditionally necessitate computationally expensive iterative control. In this paper, we propose a mode-aware framework for planar manipulation with one or two robotic arms based on contact topology selection and reduced-order kinematic modeling. Our core insight is that complex wrench-twist limit surface mechanics can be abstracted into a discrete library of physically intuitive models. We systematically map various single-arm and bimanual contact topologies to simple non-holonomic formulations, e.g. unicycle for simplified press-and-slide motion. By anchoring trajectory generation to these reduced-order models, our framework computes the required object wrench and distributes feasible, friction-bounded contact forces via a direct algebraic allocator. We incorporate manipulator kinematics to ensure long-horizon feasibility and demonstrate our fast, optimization-free approach in simulation across diverse single-arm and bimanual manipulation tasks.

Problem

• non-prehensile manipulation
• planar contact
• hybrid contact mechanics
• under-actuation
• asymmetric friction

Innovation

• mode-aware manipulation
• reduced-order modeling
• non-prehensile manipulation
• contact topology
• friction-bounded force allocation