Training control policies in simulation is more appealing than on real robots directly, as it
allows for exploring diverse states in an efficient manner. Yet, robot simulators inevitably …

Pushing is a motion primitive useful to handle objects that are too large, too heavy, or too
cluttered to be grasped. It is at the core of much of robotic manipulation, in particular when …

This article presents an offline solution and online approximation to the hybrid control
problem of planar non-prehensile manipulation. Hybrid dynamics and underactuation are …

As researchers teach robots to perform more and more complex tasks, the need for realistic
simulation environments is growing. Existing techniques for closing the reality gap by …

Nonprehensile rearrangement is the problem of controlling a robot to interact with objects
through pushing actions in order to reconfigure the objects into a predefined goal pose. In …

Rearranging objects on a tabletop surface by means of nonprehensile manipulation is a task
which requires skillful interaction with the physical world. Usually, this is achieved by …

Inertial parameters characterise an object's motion under applied forces, and can provide
strong priors for planning and control of robotic actions to manipulate the object. However …

Reinforcement learning (RL) has demonstrated great success in the past several years.
However, most of the scenarios focus on simulated environments. One of the main …

Reproducing real world dynamics in simulation is critical for the development of new control
and perception methods. This task typically involves the estimation of simu-lation parameter …

This paper addresses the identification of the inertial parameters and the contact forces
associated with objects making and breaking frictional contact with the environment. Our …