Adaptive Wiping: Adaptive contact-rich manipulation through few-shot imitation learning with Force-Torque feedback and pre-trained object representations

TL;DR

This paper introduces an adaptive wiping method that combines real-time force-torque feedback with pre-trained object representations, enabling robots to perform contact-rich tasks with high accuracy despite environmental variations.

Contribution

The novel integration of FT feedback with pre-trained object representations allows for dynamic adaptation in contact-rich tasks, improving robustness and reducing demonstration requirements.

Findings

Achieved 96% force application accuracy in real-world wiping tasks.

Significantly outperformed previous methods without FT feedback.

Demonstrated adaptability across 40 diverse scenarios.

Abstract

Imitation learning offers a pathway for robots to perform repetitive tasks, allowing humans to focus on more engaging and meaningful activities. However, challenges arise from the need for extensive demonstrations and the disparity between training and real-world environments. This paper focuses on contact-rich tasks like wiping with soft and deformable objects, requiring adaptive force control to handle variations in wiping surface height and the sponge's physical properties. To address these challenges, we propose a novel method that integrates real-time force-torque (FT) feedback with pre-trained object representations. This approach allows robots to dynamically adjust to previously unseen changes in surface heights and sponges' physical properties. In real-world experiments, our method achieved 96% accuracy in applying reference forces, significantly outperforming the previous method that lacked an FT feedback loop, which only achieved 4% accuracy. To evaluate the adaptability of our approach, we conducted experiments under different conditions from the training setup, involving 40 scenarios using 10 sponges with varying physical properties and 4 types of wiping surface heights, demonstrating significant improvements in the robot's adaptability by analyzing force trajectories. The video of our work is available at: https://sites.google.com/view/adaptive-wiping