# Soft-Bubble grippers for robust and perceptive manipulation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.03691 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.03691/

## Key facts

- Cited by 18 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 7 Apr 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 18 of 18)

- [Reactive Diffusion Policy: Slow-Fast Visual-Tactile Policy Learning for Contact-Rich Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.02881/) (2025)
- [3D-ViTac: Learning Fine-Grained Manipulation with Visuo-Tactile Sensing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.24091/) (2024)
- [ManiWAV: Learning Robot Manipulation from In-the-Wild Audio-Visual Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.19464/) (2024)
- [Touch in the Wild: Learning Fine-Grained Manipulation with a Portable Visuo-Tactile Gripper](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.15062/) (2025)
- [Tactile Sim-to-Real Policy Transfer via Real-to-Sim Image Translation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.08796/) (2021)
- [RoboPack: Learning Tactile-Informed Dynamics Models for Dense Packing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.01418/) (2024)
- [PolyTouch: A Robust Multi-Modal Tactile Sensor for Contact-rich Manipulation Using Tactile-Diffusion Policies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.19341/) (2025)
- [Visuo-Haptic Object Perception for Robots: An Overview](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.11544/) (2022)
- [TactoFind: A Tactile Only System for Object Retrieval](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.13482/) (2023)
- [Learning Intuitive Physics with Multimodal Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.04454/) (2021)
- [DexSkin: High-Coverage Conformable Robotic Skin for Learning Contact-Rich Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.18830/) (2025)
- [Monocular Depth Estimation for Soft Visuotactile Sensors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.01677/) (2021)
- [CHSEL: Producing Diverse Plausible Pose Estimates from Contact and Free Space Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.08042/) (2023)
- [GelFlow: Self-supervised Learning of Optical Flow for Vision-Based Tactile Sensor Displacement Measurement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.06735/) (2023)
- [Investigating Sensors and Methods in Grasp State Classification in Agricultural Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.11588/) (2025)
- [Tactile Active Inference Reinforcement Learning for Efficient Robotic Manipulation Skill Acquisition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.11287/) (2023)
- [RUMI: Rummaging Using Mutual Information](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.10450/) (2024)
- [TranTac: Leveraging Transient Tactile Signals for Contact-Rich Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.16550/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Manipulation in cluttered environments like homes requires stable grasps, precise placement and robustness against external contact. We present the Soft-Bubble gripper system with a highly compliant gripping surface and dense-geometry visuotactile sensing, capable of multiple kinds of tactile perception. We first present various mechanical design advances and a fabrication technique to deposit custom patterns to the internal surface of the sensor that enable tracking of shear-induced displacement of the manipuland. The depth maps output by the internal imaging sensor are used in an in-hand proximity pose estimation framework -- the method better captures distances to corners or edges on the manipuland geometry. We also extend our previous work on tactile classification and integrate the system within a robust manipulation pipeline for cluttered home environments. The capabilities of the proposed system are demonstrated through robust execution multiple real-world manipulation tasks. A video of the system in action can be found here: [https://youtu.be/G_wBsbQyBfc].