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Main Authors: Liang, Zhaowei, Wang, Song, Jin, Zhao, Wu, Shirui, Wu, Dan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.21816
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author Liang, Zhaowei
Wang, Song
Jin, Zhao
Wu, Shirui
Wu, Dan
author_facet Liang, Zhaowei
Wang, Song
Jin, Zhao
Wu, Shirui
Wu, Dan
contents Precise shape control of Deformable Linear Objects (DLOs) is crucial in robotic applications such as industrial and medical fields. However, existing methods face challenges in handling complex large deformation tasks, especially those involving opposite curvatures, and lack efficiency and precision. To address this, we propose a two-stage framework combining Reinforcement Learning (RL) and online visual servoing. In the large-deformation stage, a model-based reinforcement learning approach using an ensemble of dynamics models is introduced to significantly improve sample efficiency. Additionally, we design a self-curriculum goal generation mechanism that dynamically selects intermediate-difficulty goals with high diversity through imagined evaluations, thereby optimizing the policy learning process. In the small-deformation stage, a Jacobian-based visual servo controller is deployed to ensure high-precision convergence. Simulation results show that the proposed method enables efficient policy learning and significantly outperforms mainstream baselines in shape control success rate and precision. Furthermore, the framework effectively transfers the policy trained in simulation to real-world tasks with zero-shot adaptation. It successfully completes all 30 cases with diverse initial and target shapes across DLOs of different sizes and materials. The project website is available at: https://anonymous.4open.science/w/sc-mbrl-dlo-EB48/
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_21816
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Self-Curriculum Model-based Reinforcement Learning for Shape Control of Deformable Linear Objects
Liang, Zhaowei
Wang, Song
Jin, Zhao
Wu, Shirui
Wu, Dan
Robotics
Precise shape control of Deformable Linear Objects (DLOs) is crucial in robotic applications such as industrial and medical fields. However, existing methods face challenges in handling complex large deformation tasks, especially those involving opposite curvatures, and lack efficiency and precision. To address this, we propose a two-stage framework combining Reinforcement Learning (RL) and online visual servoing. In the large-deformation stage, a model-based reinforcement learning approach using an ensemble of dynamics models is introduced to significantly improve sample efficiency. Additionally, we design a self-curriculum goal generation mechanism that dynamically selects intermediate-difficulty goals with high diversity through imagined evaluations, thereby optimizing the policy learning process. In the small-deformation stage, a Jacobian-based visual servo controller is deployed to ensure high-precision convergence. Simulation results show that the proposed method enables efficient policy learning and significantly outperforms mainstream baselines in shape control success rate and precision. Furthermore, the framework effectively transfers the policy trained in simulation to real-world tasks with zero-shot adaptation. It successfully completes all 30 cases with diverse initial and target shapes across DLOs of different sizes and materials. The project website is available at: https://anonymous.4open.science/w/sc-mbrl-dlo-EB48/
title Self-Curriculum Model-based Reinforcement Learning for Shape Control of Deformable Linear Objects
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.21816