Robust Model-Based In-Hand Manipulation with Integrated Real-Time Motion-Contact Planning and Tracking
Research Seminar Series

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Date
08 Oct 2025
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Organiser
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, PolyU
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Time
10:00 - 11:30
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Venue
FJ304
Speaker
Prof Xiang Li
Summary
Robotic dexterous in-hand manipulation, where multiple fingers dynamically make and break contact, represents a step toward human-like dexterity in real-world robotic applications. Unlike learning-based approaches that rely on large-scale training or extensive data collection for each specific task, model-based methods offer an efficient alternative. However, due to the complexity of physical contacts, existing model-based methods encounter challenges in efficient online planning and handling modeling errors, which limit their practical applications. To advance the effectiveness and robustness of model-based contact-rich in-hand manipulation, this talk introduces a novel integrated framework that mitigates these limitations. The integration involves two key aspects: 1) integrated real-time planning and tracking achieved by a hierarchical structure; and 2) joint optimization of motions and contacts achieved by integrated motion-contact modeling. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our approach outperforms existing model-based methods in terms of accuracy, robustness, and real-time performance.
Keynote Speaker

Prof Xiang Li
Associate Professor
Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, China
Xiang Li is an Associate Professor with the Department of Automation, Tsinghua University. His research interests include robotic dexterous manipulation and human-robot collaboration. He has published three monographs distributed by Springer and Elsevier and authored over 100 papers. He has been the Associate Editor of IJRR since 2024 and the Associate Editor of TRO since 2025. He received the IROS Best Application Paper Finalist in 2017, the ICRA Best Medical Robotics Paper Finalist in 2024, and the RAL Outstanding Associate Editor in 2025. He led the team and won the first place at 2024 ICRA Robotic Grasping and Manipulation Challenge – in-hand track and also the Most Elegant Solution across all the tracks.
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