Tactile-Proprioceptive Sensor Fusion for Contact Wrench Estimation in Whole-Body Physical Human-Robot Interaction

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Min, Junha, Ma, Junghyeon, Kwon, Jiwung, Bae, Sunggyu, Kim, Joohyung, Park, Kyungseo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Min, Junha
Ma, Junghyeon
Kwon, Jiwung
Bae, Sunggyu
Kim, Joohyung
Park, Kyungseo
author_facet Min, Junha
Ma, Junghyeon
Kwon, Jiwung
Bae, Sunggyu
Kim, Joohyung
Park, Kyungseo
contents Direct physical guidance is a natural means of teaching and interacting with robots, and robotic skins make a key contribution by enabling sensitive contact sensing and localization. This paper presents a tactile-proprioceptive sensor fusion framework for natural physical human-robot interaction. Tactile cues from pneumatic skin pads serve as contact indicators that bypass the ambiguity between frictional residues and applied external forces, enabling highly sensitive contact detection without explicit friction identification. We fuse these cues with motor-current-based proprioception to reconstruct multi-axis contact forces on the robot surface. To maintain accuracy during motion, we employ a temporal convolutional network (TCN) to mitigate friction hysteresis during stick-slip transitions, reducing uncertainty at contact onset and yielding smooth, responsive guidance. We validate the approach on a skin-integrated robot arm: (i) multi-axis forces are reconstructed in stationary contacts, and (ii) simultaneous force estimation and kinesthetic teaching are demonstrated. Results indicate improved sensitivity and responsiveness across diverse contact conditions compared with tactile-only and proprioceptive-only baselines, supporting tactile-proprioceptive fusion as a reliable pathway to safe, intuitive physical human-robot interaction.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_28412
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Tactile-Proprioceptive Sensor Fusion for Contact Wrench Estimation in Whole-Body Physical Human-Robot Interaction
Min, Junha
Ma, Junghyeon
Kwon, Jiwung
Bae, Sunggyu
Kim, Joohyung
Park, Kyungseo
Robotics
Machine Learning
I.2.9; I.2.6
Direct physical guidance is a natural means of teaching and interacting with robots, and robotic skins make a key contribution by enabling sensitive contact sensing and localization. This paper presents a tactile-proprioceptive sensor fusion framework for natural physical human-robot interaction. Tactile cues from pneumatic skin pads serve as contact indicators that bypass the ambiguity between frictional residues and applied external forces, enabling highly sensitive contact detection without explicit friction identification. We fuse these cues with motor-current-based proprioception to reconstruct multi-axis contact forces on the robot surface. To maintain accuracy during motion, we employ a temporal convolutional network (TCN) to mitigate friction hysteresis during stick-slip transitions, reducing uncertainty at contact onset and yielding smooth, responsive guidance. We validate the approach on a skin-integrated robot arm: (i) multi-axis forces are reconstructed in stationary contacts, and (ii) simultaneous force estimation and kinesthetic teaching are demonstrated. Results indicate improved sensitivity and responsiveness across diverse contact conditions compared with tactile-only and proprioceptive-only baselines, supporting tactile-proprioceptive fusion as a reliable pathway to safe, intuitive physical human-robot interaction.
title Tactile-Proprioceptive Sensor Fusion for Contact Wrench Estimation in Whole-Body Physical Human-Robot Interaction
topic Robotics
Machine Learning
I.2.9; I.2.6
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.28412