Approximately Optimal Global Planning for Contact-Rich SE(2) Manipulation on a Graph of Reachable Sets

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Liu, Simin, Zhao, Tong, Graesdal, Bernhard Paus, Werner, Peter, Wang, Jiuguang, Dolan, John, Liu, Changliu, Pang, Tao
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Liu, Simin
Zhao, Tong
Graesdal, Bernhard Paus
Werner, Peter
Wang, Jiuguang
Dolan, John
Liu, Changliu
Pang, Tao
author_facet Liu, Simin
Zhao, Tong
Graesdal, Bernhard Paus
Werner, Peter
Wang, Jiuguang
Dolan, John
Liu, Changliu
Pang, Tao
contents If we consider human manipulation, it is clear that contact-rich manipulation (CRM)-the ability to use any surface of the manipulator to make contact with objects-can be far more efficient and natural than relying solely on end-effectors (i.e., fingertips). However, state-of-the-art model-based planners for CRM are still focused on feasibility rather than optimality, limiting their ability to fully exploit CRM's advantages. We introduce a new paradigm that computes approximately optimal manipulator plans. This approach has two phases. Offline, we construct a graph of mutual reachable sets, where each set contains all object orientations reachable from a starting object orientation and grasp. Online, we plan over this graph, effectively computing and sequencing local plans for globally optimized motion. On a challenging, representative contact-rich task, our approach outperforms a leading planner, reducing task cost by 61%. It also achieves a 91% success rate across 250 queries and maintains sub-minute query times, ultimately demonstrating that globally optimized contact-rich manipulation is now practical for real-world tasks.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_10827
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Approximately Optimal Global Planning for Contact-Rich SE(2) Manipulation on a Graph of Reachable Sets
Liu, Simin
Zhao, Tong
Graesdal, Bernhard Paus
Werner, Peter
Wang, Jiuguang
Dolan, John
Liu, Changliu
Pang, Tao
Robotics
Artificial Intelligence
Systems and Control
If we consider human manipulation, it is clear that contact-rich manipulation (CRM)-the ability to use any surface of the manipulator to make contact with objects-can be far more efficient and natural than relying solely on end-effectors (i.e., fingertips). However, state-of-the-art model-based planners for CRM are still focused on feasibility rather than optimality, limiting their ability to fully exploit CRM's advantages. We introduce a new paradigm that computes approximately optimal manipulator plans. This approach has two phases. Offline, we construct a graph of mutual reachable sets, where each set contains all object orientations reachable from a starting object orientation and grasp. Online, we plan over this graph, effectively computing and sequencing local plans for globally optimized motion. On a challenging, representative contact-rich task, our approach outperforms a leading planner, reducing task cost by 61%. It also achieves a 91% success rate across 250 queries and maintains sub-minute query times, ultimately demonstrating that globally optimized contact-rich manipulation is now practical for real-world tasks.
title Approximately Optimal Global Planning for Contact-Rich SE(2) Manipulation on a Graph of Reachable Sets
topic Robotics
Artificial Intelligence
Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10827