Reactive Slip Control in Multifingered Grasping: Hybrid Tactile Sensing and Internal-Force Optimization

TL;DR

This paper presents a reactive grasp stabilization method using hybrid tactile sensing and internal-force optimization, achieving sub-50 ms response times for multifingered grasp control without prior object knowledge.

Contribution

It introduces a low-level reflex control layer combining tactile slip detection with model-based force control, enabling fast, reactive stabilization in multifingered grasping.

Findings

Slip detection latency of approximately 20 ms

Grasp response latency around 30 ms

Successful stabilization under external perturbations

Abstract

We build a low-level reflex control layer driven by fast tactile feedback for multifinger grasp stabilization. Our hybrid approach combines learned tactile slip detection with model-based internal-force control to halt in-hand slip while preserving the object-level wrench. The multimodal tactile stack integrates piezoelectric sensing (PzE) for fast slip cues and piezoresistive arrays (PzR) for contact localization, enabling online construction of a contact-centric grasp representation without prior object knowledge. Experiments demonstrate reactive stabilization of multifingered grasps under external perturbations, without explicit friction models or direct force sensing. In controlled trials, slip onset is detected after 20.4 +/- 6 ms. The framework yields a theoretical grasp response latency on the order of 30 ms, with grasp-model updates in less than 5 ms and internal-force selection in about 4 ms. The analysis supports the feasibility of sub-50 ms tactile-driven grasp responses, aligned with human reflex baselines.