On the Conic Complementarity of Planar Contacts

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: de Mont-Marin, Yann, Montaut, Louis, Ponce, Jean, Hebert, Martial, Carpentier, Justin
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866912617625288704
author de Mont-Marin, Yann
Montaut, Louis
Ponce, Jean
Hebert, Martial
Carpentier, Justin
author_facet de Mont-Marin, Yann
Montaut, Louis
Ponce, Jean
Hebert, Martial
Carpentier, Justin
contents We present a unifying theoretical result that connects two foundational principles in robotics: the Signorini law for point contacts, which underpins many simulation methods for preventing object interpenetration, and the center of pressure (also known as the zero-moment point), a key concept used in, for instance, optimization-based locomotion control. Our contribution is the planar Signorini condition, a conic complementarity formulation that models general planar contacts between rigid bodies. We prove that this formulation is equivalent to enforcing the punctual Signorini law across an entire contact surface, thereby bridging the gap between discrete and continuous contact models. A geometric interpretation reveals that the framework naturally captures three physical regimes -sticking, separating, and tilting-within a unified complementarity structure. This leads to a principled extension of the classical center of pressure, which we refer to as the extended center of pressure. By establishing this connection, our work provides a mathematically consistent and computationally tractable foundation for handling planar contacts, with implications for both the accurate simulation of contact dynamics and the design of advanced control and optimization algorithms in locomotion and manipulation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_25999
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On the Conic Complementarity of Planar Contacts
de Mont-Marin, Yann
Montaut, Louis
Ponce, Jean
Hebert, Martial
Carpentier, Justin
Robotics
We present a unifying theoretical result that connects two foundational principles in robotics: the Signorini law for point contacts, which underpins many simulation methods for preventing object interpenetration, and the center of pressure (also known as the zero-moment point), a key concept used in, for instance, optimization-based locomotion control. Our contribution is the planar Signorini condition, a conic complementarity formulation that models general planar contacts between rigid bodies. We prove that this formulation is equivalent to enforcing the punctual Signorini law across an entire contact surface, thereby bridging the gap between discrete and continuous contact models. A geometric interpretation reveals that the framework naturally captures three physical regimes -sticking, separating, and tilting-within a unified complementarity structure. This leads to a principled extension of the classical center of pressure, which we refer to as the extended center of pressure. By establishing this connection, our work provides a mathematically consistent and computationally tractable foundation for handling planar contacts, with implications for both the accurate simulation of contact dynamics and the design of advanced control and optimization algorithms in locomotion and manipulation.
title On the Conic Complementarity of Planar Contacts
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.25999