Push, Press, Slide: Mode-Aware Planar Contact Manipulation via Reduced-Order Models

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2603.12399v2
• Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2026 19:02:06 GMT
• Title: Push, Press, Slide: Mode-Aware Planar Contact Manipulation via Reduced-Order Models
• Abstract summary: We propose a mode-aware framework for planar manipulation with one or two robotic arms.<n>Our core insight is that complex wrench-twist limit surface mechanics can be abstracted into a discrete library of physically intuitive models.<n>We demonstrate our fast, optimization-free approach in simulation across diverse single-arm and bimanual manipulation tasks.
• Score: 4.600772894287281
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Non-prehensile planar manipulation, including pushing and press-and-slide, is critical for diverse robotic tasks, but notoriously challenging due to hybrid contact mechanics, under-actuation, and asymmetric friction limits that traditionally necessitate computationally expensive iterative control. In this paper, we propose a mode-aware framework for planar manipulation with one or two robotic arms based on contact topology selection and reduced-order kinematic modeling. Our core insight is that complex wrench-twist limit surface mechanics can be abstracted into a discrete library of physically intuitive models. We systematically map various single-arm and bimanual contact topologies to simple non-holonomic formulations, e.g. unicycle for simplified press-and-slide motion. By anchoring trajectory generation to these reduced-order models, our framework computes the required object wrench and distributes feasible, friction-bounded contact forces via a direct algebraic allocator. We incorporate manipulator kinematics to ensure long-horizon feasibility and demonstrate our fast, optimization-free approach in simulation across diverse single-arm and bimanual manipulation tasks. Supplementary videos and additional information are available at: https://sites.google.com/view/pushpressslide

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