New robot tech lets machines peel, slice and handle odd-shaped objects easily

Researchers have unveiled a new method that lets robots handle irregular, curved objects with far greater precision. The system, developed by researchers from the Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne (EPFL) and Idiap Research Institute, generates a point-cloud map of an object and identifies key surface reference points, creating a smooth, task-aware representation regardless of shape or size. According to the team, the model enables robots to transfer skills across different items, from bananas to sweet potatoes. In tests, robots successfully performed contact-rich tasks like peeling, slicing, and surface probing. The approach also proved resilient, working even with partial or noisy sensor data and in cluttered environments, marking a step forward in adaptable, real-world robotic manipulation. Shape-aware manipulation Humans can seamlessly transfer manipulation skills—such as slicing, peeling, or scrubbing—across objects with very different shapes by relying on a shape-aware, object-centric understanding of surfaces. Robots, however, struggle with this adaptability. The main issue lies in the wide variability of surface geometry, which makes fixed or pose-based representations unreliable. Many existing approaches either ignore geometric structure altogether or depend heavily on large amounts of training data, limiting their ability to generalize. A central challenge, therefore, is to develop reusable, geometry-aware representations that accurately capture how a robot interacts with an object’s surface while remaining invariant to differences in shape. Such representations would allow robots to transfer skills across diverse objects without requiring extensive retraining. Task transfer across shapes, addressing the immense shape variation of everyday objects. The new geometric methods provide a promising alternative to purely learning-based approaches. By leveraging discrete differential geometry, these methods enable task transfer across surfaces. Funct…