Compliant Sphere Lattice Contact: Distributed Contact Modeling for Sphere-Based Robot Representations
arXiv:2608.00263v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Contact planning in robotics requires models that are both computationally efficient and physically accurate. Sphere-based robot representations satisfy the first requirement by enabling fast collision checking and differentiable geometry, but sacrifice physical accuracy by relying on point contact which cannot capture contact patch area, pressure distributions, rotational stiffness, or frictional moments. We introduce Compliant Sphere Lattice Contact (CSLC), a distributed contact model that operates natively on sphere representations by modeling the robot interface as a compliant lattice of surface spheres connected through anchor and lateral springs. When pressed against an object, the lattice deforms to produce a spatially distributed contact patch that improves the physical accuracy of sphere-based contact. We validate CSLC across two independent solvers and show preliminary results demonstrating contact patch formation and improved grasp stability.
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[Submitted on 31 Jul 2026]
Title:Compliant Sphere Lattice Contact: Distributed Contact Modeling for Sphere-Based Robot Representations
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Abstract:Contact planning in robotics requires models that are both computationally efficient and physically accurate. Sphere-based robot representations satisfy the first requirement by enabling fast collision checking and differentiable geometry, but sacrifice physical accuracy by relying on point contact which cannot capture contact patch area, pressure distributions, rotational stiffness, or frictional moments. We introduce Compliant Sphere Lattice Contact (CSLC), a distributed contact model that operates natively on sphere representations by modeling the robot interface as a compliant lattice of surface spheres connected through anchor and lateral springs. When pressed against an object, the lattice deforms to produce a spatially distributed contact patch that improves the physical accuracy of sphere-based contact. We validate CSLC across two independent solvers and show preliminary results demonstrating contact patch formation and improved grasp stability.
Subjects:
Robotics (cs.RO)
Cite as: arXiv:2608.00263 [cs.RO]
(or arXiv:2608.00263v1 [cs.RO] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.00263
arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite
Journal reference: ICRA 2026 Workshop on Contact-Rich Control and Representation
Submission history
From: Nataliya Nechyporenko [view email] [v1] Fri, 31 Jul 2026 20:11:14 UTC (1,027 KB)
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