Force Push: Robust Single-Point Pushing with Force Feedback

Abstract: We present a controller for quasistatic robotic planar pushing with single-point contact using only force feedback to sense the pushed object. We consider an omnidirectional mobile robot pushing an object (the "slider") along a given path, where the robot is equipped with a force-torque sensor to measure the force at the contact point with the slider. The geometric, inertial, and frictional parameters of the slider are not known to the controller, nor are measurements of the slider's pose. We assume that the robot can be localized so that the global position of the contact point is always known and that the approximate initial position of the slider is provided. Simulations and real-world experiments show that our controller yields pushes that are robust to a wide range of slider parameters and state perturbations along both straight and curved paths. Furthermore, we use an admittance controller to adjust the pushing velocity based on the measured force when the slider contacts obstacles like walls.