Simultaneous Contact Location and Object Pose Estimation Using Proprioception and Tactile Feedback

Joint estimation of grasped object pose and extrinsic contacts is central to robust and dexterous manipulation. In this paper, we propose a novel state-estimation algorithm that jointly estimates contact location and object pose in 3D using exclusively proprioception and tactile feedback. Our approach leverages two complementary particle filters: one to estimate contact location (CPFGrasp) and another to estimate object poses (SCOPE). We implement and evaluate our approach on real-world single-arm and dual-arm robotic systems. We demonstrate that by bringing two objects into contact, the robots can infer contact location and object poses simultaneously. Our proposed method can be applied to a number of downstream tasks that require accurate pose estimates, such as tool use and assembly. Code and data can be found at https://github.com/MMintLab/scope.

Automated summary

This paper proposes a novel algorithm for joint estimation of object pose and extrinsic contacts using proprioception and tactile feedback. The approach utilizes two complementary particle filters to estimate contact location and object poses simultaneously. Experimental results demonstrate that the robots can infer contact location and object poses by bringing two objects into contact. The proposed method has potential applications in tasks that require accurate pose estimates.