GraspSense: Physically Grounded Grasp and Grip Planning for a Dexterous Robotic Hand via Language-Guided Perception and Force Maps

TL;DR

This paper introduces a physically grounded grasp planning system for a robotic hand that uses force maps and perception to improve object safety and grip reliability.

Contribution

It presents a novel pipeline integrating force maps and geometric analysis for grasp selection and force regulation in dexterous robotic manipulation.

Findings

The system effectively identifies mechanically admissible contact regions.

It maintains safe grip forces during manipulation of various objects.

The approach improves grasp strength and safety over traditional geometric methods.

Abstract

Dexterous robotic manipulation requires more than geometrically valid grasps: it demands physically grounded contact strategies that account for the spatially non-uniform mechanical properties of the object. However, existing grasp planners typically treat the surface as structurally homogeneous, even though contact in a weak region can damage the object despite a geometrically perfect grasp. We present a pipeline for grasp selection and force regulation in a five-fingered robotic hand, based on a map of locally admissible contact loads. From an operator command, the system identifies the target object, reconstructs its 3D geometry using SAM3D, and imports the model into Isaac Sim. A physics-informed geometric analysis then computes a force map that encodes the maximum lateral contact force admissible at each surface location without deformation. Grasp candidates are filtered by geometric validity and task-goal consistency. When multiple candidates are comparable under classical metrics, they are re-ranked using a force-map-aware criterion that favors grasps with contacts in mechanically admissible regions. An impedance controller scales the stiffness of each finger according to the locally admissible force at the contact point, enabling safe and reliable grasp execution. Validation on paper, plastic, and glass cups shows that the proposed approach consistently selects structurally stronger contact regions and keeps grip forces within safe bounds. In this way, the work reframes dexterous manipulation from a purely geometric problem into a physically grounded joint planning problem of grasp selection and grip execution for future humanoid systems.