2026 · 6 min · Robotics · Manipulation · Control
The Contact Problem
About free-space demos, the last centimeter, and why robots still struggle when the world pushes back.
Perception and planning got fast. Physical contact did not. When we imagine the machines of the future, we often picture them moving cleanly through air. The harder question is what happens when they have to touch us, and the rest of the world, and come away unbroken.