This paper presents a touch-based control method for tracking 3D surfaces in robotic finishing tasks, specifically for the footwear industry. Our method combines a normal force controller and an orientation controller, both based on the forces feedback from a tactile sensor with nine contact points. The controller regulates the contact force and the orientation of a tool mounted on a robotic end-effector by generating velocity commands in Cartesian space, which allows the robot to adapt the tool pose according to the interaction with the surface. The system does not require a predefined position trajectory, instead it generates velocity commands. The results show the controller's capability to maintain a constant contact force with an error of 0.229±0.169 [N] when testing with a real shoe, and it adapts to unknown surfaces with different curvatures and slopes.
@INPROCEEDINGS{EdisonETFA2025,
author={Velasco-Sanchez, Edison and Castaño-Amoros, Julio and Gil, Pablo and Torres, Fernando},
booktitle={2025 IEEE 30th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA)},
title={Touch-based Effector Control to Track 3D Surfaces},
year={2025},
volume={},
number={},
pages={1--6},
doi={}}