A Reinforcement Learning Approach to Non-prehensile Manipulation through Sliding

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Raei, Hamidreza, De Momi, Elena, Ajoudani, Arash
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866929729117880320
author Raei, Hamidreza
De Momi, Elena
Ajoudani, Arash
author_facet Raei, Hamidreza
De Momi, Elena
Ajoudani, Arash
contents Although robotic applications increasingly demand versatile and dynamic object handling, most existing techniques are predominantly focused on grasp-based manipulation, limiting their applicability in non-prehensile tasks. To address this need, this study introduces a Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) reinforcement learning framework for efficient non-prehensile manipulation, specifically for sliding an object on a surface. The algorithm generates a linear trajectory by precisely controlling the acceleration of a robotic arm rigidly coupled to the horizontal surface, enabling the relative manipulation of an object as it slides on top of the surface. Furthermore, two distinct algorithms have been developed to estimate the frictional forces dynamically during the sliding process. These algorithms provide online friction estimates after each action, which are fed back into the actor model as critical feedback after each action. This feedback mechanism enhances the policy's adaptability and robustness, ensuring more precise control of the platform's acceleration in response to varying surface condition. The proposed algorithm is validated through simulations and real-world experiments. Results demonstrate that the proposed framework effectively generalizes sliding manipulation across varying distances and, more importantly, adapts to different surfaces with diverse frictional properties. Notably, the trained model exhibits zero-shot sim-to-real transfer capabilities.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_17221
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Reinforcement Learning Approach to Non-prehensile Manipulation through Sliding
Raei, Hamidreza
De Momi, Elena
Ajoudani, Arash
Robotics
Although robotic applications increasingly demand versatile and dynamic object handling, most existing techniques are predominantly focused on grasp-based manipulation, limiting their applicability in non-prehensile tasks. To address this need, this study introduces a Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) reinforcement learning framework for efficient non-prehensile manipulation, specifically for sliding an object on a surface. The algorithm generates a linear trajectory by precisely controlling the acceleration of a robotic arm rigidly coupled to the horizontal surface, enabling the relative manipulation of an object as it slides on top of the surface. Furthermore, two distinct algorithms have been developed to estimate the frictional forces dynamically during the sliding process. These algorithms provide online friction estimates after each action, which are fed back into the actor model as critical feedback after each action. This feedback mechanism enhances the policy's adaptability and robustness, ensuring more precise control of the platform's acceleration in response to varying surface condition. The proposed algorithm is validated through simulations and real-world experiments. Results demonstrate that the proposed framework effectively generalizes sliding manipulation across varying distances and, more importantly, adapts to different surfaces with diverse frictional properties. Notably, the trained model exhibits zero-shot sim-to-real transfer capabilities.
title A Reinforcement Learning Approach to Non-prehensile Manipulation through Sliding
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.17221