Learning Robust Dual-Arm Coordination in the Manipulation of Elastic
Elements from Intuitive Human Demonstrations
Cristian Vergara1 , Juan Sebastian Cuellar1 , Federico Ulloa1 , Santiago Iregui1 , Lander Vanroye1 , Ruan Viljoen1
Yudha Pane1 , Joris De Schutter1 , Erwin Aertbeliën1 , and Wilm Decré1
Abstract— This paper presents a framework that facilitates
and expedites assembly applications that involve dual-arm
manipulation of flexible and fixtureless elements. This concept
enables users without extensive expertise in robotics to teach
the required motion, forces, torques, and arms coordination
to perform these assembly operations, using devices that do
not involve the robot platform. Subsequently, a motion/wrench
model is learned using trajectory parameterized Probabilistic
Principal Component Analysis (traPPCA). Finally, the dual-arm
task is robustly performed by using the constraint-based con-
troller expression-based Task Specification Language (eTaSL).
The installation of o-rings in pistons is presented as an example
of an industrially relevant use case.
I. I NTRODUCTION
One of the main challenges in agile manufacturing is the
capability to facilitate and expedite the deployment of robot
applications that involve the manipulation of elastic elements
[1], e.g., the installation of o-rings in rigid objects [2]. This
application brings challenges associated with the required
motions, forces, and coordination of dual-arm manipulators
to pick a elastic o-ring from a support, interact with a housing
to install this o-ring in a specific grove, and perform the
release motions (see fig. 1). The main contribution of this
paper is an extension of our work in [3] and [4] to learn and
generalize dual-arm motion, force, torque, and coordination
to manipulate elastic elements.
II. A PPROACH
Our approach is described by the following technologies:
1) Application specific components: Additive manufactur-
ing is used to develop application specific components (see
fig.1), easing the task execution for both the operator and the
manipulator, while increasing the application reliability.
2) Human interface: As in [3], task teaching devices
equipped with pose and force/torque sensors enable intuitive
task demonstrations. In this way, the user does not need to
deal with the robot body inertia, as in kinesthetic teaching,
and has real contact feedback.
3) Learning Methodology: TraPPCA [3] is used to learn a
motion/wrench model from the data acquired during demon-
strations. In this way, our system can robustly generalize the
approach and contact information corresponding to dual-arm
manipulation of elastic elements from user demonstrations.
1 Robotics Research Team, RAM Division, KU Leuven, Bel-
gium, Core Lab Flanders Make, http://www.mech.kuleuven.
be/robotics. This work belongs to Chorrobot, winner of the
”KUKA Innovation Award 2021 - AI Challenge”, which was sup-
ported by ERC Advanced Grant: ROBOTGENSKILL and Flanders Make
Projects: PROUD, PROROB and MULTIROB. Corresponding author:
cristian.vergara@kuleuven.be
Fig. 1: User demonstrations for an o-ring installation (Upper). Our system
generalizes the acquired signals, coordinating both arms motions to perform
the task (Lower). From left to right, the task steps are: initial configuration,
o-ring picking, installation in the mock-up piston, and o-ring release.
4) Reactive Controller: The dual-arm motion is deliv-
ered by combining learned and modeled information in our
constraint-based reactive controller eTaSL [5]. In this way,
robustness against uncertainties associated with imprecise
sensors and system calibration is increased.
III. R ESULTS
A motion/wrench model is trained from five demonstra-
tions, encoding variability associated with different relative
positions between the o-ring support and the mock-up piston.
Fig. 1 shows four corresponding instances between one
demonstration and an autonomous execution of the robot.
IV. D ISCUSSIONS AND C ONCLUSIONS
The proposed synergy between modeled and learned infor-
mation enables a robust motion/wrench generalization while
dealing with changes in the relative positions between the
o-ring support and the mock-up piston. We believe this
approach has the potential to unveil a new era of automation,
offering the possibility to automate industrial processes that
were not (technically and/or economically) feasible before,
while also dealing with small production series that have to
be deployed quickly.
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