Contact Models in Robotics: a Comparative Analysis
Inria(法国国家信息与自动化研究所);École normale supérieure(巴黎高等师范学院);PSL Research University(巴黎文理研究大学);LAAS-CNRS(法国国家科学研究中心自动化与系统分析实验室);Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics(捷克信息学、机器人学与控制论研究所);Czech Technical University(捷克技术大学)
Quentin Le Lidec, Wilson Jallet, Louis Montaut, Ivan Laptev, Cordelia Schmid, Justin Carpentier
Physics simulation is ubiquitous in robotics. Whether in model-based approaches (e.g., trajectory optimization), or model-free algorithms (e.g., reinforcement learning), physics simulators are a central component of modern control pipelines in robotics. Over the past decades, several robotic simulators have been developed, each with dedicated contact modeling assumptions and algorithmic solutions. In this article, we survey the main contact models and the associated numerical methods commonly used in robotics for simulating advanced robot motions involving contact interactions. In particular, we recall the physical laws underlying contacts and friction (i.e., Signorini condition, Coulomb's law, and the maximum dissipation principle), and how they are transcribed in current simulators. For each physics engine, we expose their inherent physical relaxations along with their limitations due to the numerical techniques employed. Based on our study, we propose theoretically grounded quantitative criteria on which we build benchmarks assessing both the physical and computational aspects of simulation. We support our work with an open-source and efficient C++ implementation of the existing algorithmic variations. Our results demonstrate that some approximations or algorithms commonly used in robotics can severely widen the reality gap and impact target applications. We hope this work will help motivate the development of new contact models, contact solvers, and robotic simulators in general, at the root of recent progress in motion generation in robotics.
Evolution of Safety Requirements in Industrial Robotics: Comparative Analysis of ISO 10218-1/2 (2011 vs. 2025) and Integration of ISO/TS 15066
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, VSB—Technical University of Ostrava(机械工程学院,奥斯特拉瓦技术大学);Faculty of Safety Engineering, VSB—Technical University of Ostrava(安全工程学院,奥斯特拉瓦技术大学)
本文通过比较 ISO 10218:2011 与 ISO 10218:2025 标准,分析工业机器人安全要求在功能安全、网络安全、机器人分类及协作应用等方面的演进,并整合 ISO/TS 15066,建立现代机器人系统设计与运行的全面框架。
DecompGrind: A Decomposition Framework for Robotic Grinding via Cutting-Surface Planning and Contact-Force Adaptation
Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST)(奈良先端科学技术大学院大学);Keio University(庆应义塾大学);Kyoto University(京都大学);Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR)(国际电气通信基础技术研究所)
A Comparative Study of INDI and NDI with Nonlinear Disturbance Observer for Aerial Robotics
Robotics and Mechatronics group, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science (EEMCS), University of Twente(代尔夫特理工大学电气工程、数学与计算机科学学院机器人与机电组);School of Aerospace, Mechanical, and Mechatronic Engineering (AMME), Faculty of Engineering, University of Sydney(悉尼大学航空航天、机械与机电工程学院);Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome(罗马大学计算机、控制与管理工程系)
REASSEMBLE: A Multimodal Dataset for Contact-rich Robotic Assembly and Disassembly
Autonomous Systems Lab, Institute of Computer Technology, TU Wien(自主系统实验室,计算机技术学院,维也纳技术大学);Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics (DLR), German Aerospace Center(机器人与机电系统研究所(DLR),德国航空航天中心)
A Benchmarking Study of Vision-Based Robotic Grasping Algorithms: A Comparative Analysis
Robotics Engineering Department, Worcester Polytechnic Institute(沃斯特理工学院机器人工程系);New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation (NERVE) Center, University of Massachusetts Lowell(马萨诸塞大学洛厄尔分校新英格兰机器人验证与实验中心)
Grasp, Slide, Roll: Comparative Analysis of Contact Modes for Tactile-Based Shape Reconstruction
Amazon Fulfillment Technologies & Robotics(亚马逊履行技术与机器人);Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University(卡内基梅隆大学机器人研究所);Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign(伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校Siebel计算与数据科学学院)
Contact SLAM: An Active Tactile Exploration Policy Based on Physical Reasoning Utilized in Robotic Fine Blind Manipulation Tasks
Research Center for Intelligent Robotics(智能机器人研究中心);National Key Laboratory of Aerospace Flight Dynamics(航空飞行动力学国家重点实验室);Shaanxi Province Innovation Team of Intelligent Robotic Technology(陕西省智能机器人技术创新团队);School of Astronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University(航空学院,西北工业大学)
DEFT-VLA: Stage-Localized Force Specialization for Contact-Rich Robotic Manipulation
Suzhou Institute for Advanced Research, University of Science and Technology of China(中国科学技术大学苏州高等研究院);School of Biomedical Engineering, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China(中国科学技术大学生命科学与医学部生物医学工程学院);School of Robotics, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University(西交利物浦大学机器人学院)