aiqbench analysis
This paper introduces PRISM, a novel MPC framework for dual-arm robotics that integrates GPU-accelerated physics simulation with Bayesian optimization to solve complex bimanual manipulation tasks. By decoupling trajectory exploration from kinematic feasibility through a custom QP solver, the method achieves robust sim-to-real transfer on UR5e manipulators while maintaining real-time execution speeds. The work advances the state of contact-rich motion planning by automating cost function tuning and improving success rates in cluttered environments.
PRISM: Projection-Integrated Sampling-Based MPC with Bayesian Cost Tuning for Bimanual Manipulation
arXiv:2608.25666v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Bimanual manipulation in cluttered, contact-rich environments remains challenging because it requires coordinated motion generation, interaction-aware planning, and reliable execution under tight kinematic constraints. We present PRISM, a projection-integrated sampling-based Model Predictive Control (MPC) framework that uses a GPU-accelerated physics simulator as an online world model for complex dual-arm manipulation. The main algorithmic contribution is a QP-guided control sampling strategy that decouples trajectory exploration from kinematic feasibility. At each MPC step, sampled joint-velocity trajectories are projected onto the set of motions satisfying joint position, velocity, acceleration, and jerk bounds, together with an initial-velocity boundary condition, before rollout evaluation. This enables broad yet feasible exploration of coordinated bimanual behaviors. To support efficient online execution, we derive a custom ADMM/Bregman-splitting QP solver that exploits joint-wise separability and reusable matrix factorizations. We further use Bayesian optimization to tune task-cost weights offline, reducing manual parameter selection. We evaluate PRISM on challenging variants of PerAct$^{2}$ tasks, including obstacle-constrained ball transport, tray transport, cube handover, and box lifting. Experiments show improved robustness and task success relative to representative sampling-based baselines, while maintaining real-time or near-real-time execution. We also demonstrate successful sim-to-real transfer on dual UR5e manipulators, highlighting the practical potential of physics-based online planning for contact-rich bimanual manipulation. Project details, including code and supplementary videos, are available at \href{https://sites.google.com/view/prismbimanual}{\texttt{https://sites.google.com/view/prismbimanual}}.
Abstract:Bimanual manipulation in cluttered, contact-rich environments remains challenging because it requires coordinated motion generation, interaction-aware planning, and reliable execution under tight kinematic constraints. We present PRISM, a projection-integrated sampling-based Model Predictive Control (MPC) framework that uses a GPU-accelerated physics simulator as an online world model for complex dual-arm manipulation. The main algorithmic contribution is a QP-guided control sampling strategy that decouples trajectory exploration from kinematic feasibility. At each MPC step, sampled joint-velocity trajectories are projected onto the set of motions satisfying joint position, velocity, acceleration, and jerk bounds, together with an initial-velocity boundary condition, before rollout evaluation. This enables broad yet feasible exploration of coordinated bimanual behaviors. To support efficient online execution, we derive a custom ADMM/Bregman-splitting QP solver that exploits joint-wise separability and reusable matrix factorizations. We further use Bayesian optimization to tune task-cost weights offline, reducing manual parameter selection. We evaluate PRISM on challenging variants of PerAct$^{2}$ tasks, including obstacle-constrained ball transport, tray transport, cube handover, and box lifting. Experiments show improved robustness and task success relative to representative sampling-based baselines, while maintaining real-time or near-real-time execution. We also demonstrate successful sim-to-real transfer on dual UR5e manipulators, highlighting the practical potential of physics-based online planning for contact-rich bimanual manipulation. Project details, including code and supplementary videos, are available at \href{this https URL}{\texttt{this https URL}}.
Robotics (cs.RO)
arXiv:2608.25666 [cs.RO]
(or arXiv:2608.25666v1 [cs.RO] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.25666 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)
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