mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

ForceMimic: Force-Centric Imitation Learning with Force-Motion Capture System for Contact-Rich Manipulation

arXiv 2410.07554 ↗First posted 10 Oct 2024cs.ROcited by 36

On the map: Offline RL and imitation learning from data → Robot manipulation imitation learning

Abstract (arXiv)

In most contact-rich manipulation tasks, humans apply time-varying forces to the target object, compensating for inaccuracies in the vision-guided hand trajectory. However, current robot learning algorithms primarily focus on trajectory-based policy, with limited attention given to learning force-related skills. To address this limitation, we introduce ForceMimic, a force-centric robot learning system, providing a natural, force-aware and robot-free robotic demonstration collection system, along with a hybrid force-motion imitation learning algorithm for robust contact-rich manipulation. Using the proposed ForceCapture system, an operator can peel a zucchini in 5 minutes, while force-feedback teleoperation takes over 13 minutes and struggles with task completion. With the collected data, we propose HybridIL to train a force-centric imitation learning model, equipped with hybrid force-position control primitive to fit the predicted wrench-position parameters during robot execution. Experiments demonstrate that our approach enables the model to learn a more robust policy under the contact-rich task of vegetable peeling, increasing the success rates by 54.5% relatively compared to state-ofthe-art pure-vision-based imitation learning. Hardware, code, data and more results can be found on the project website at https://forcemimic.github.io.

Key facts. Cited by 36 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Robot manipulation imitation learning, one of 13 directions in Offline RL and imitation learning from data. Builds on 28 of its 44 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 10 Oct 2024.

Builds on

28 of 44 references.

Closest ancestors · 13

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2024Bunny-VisionPro: Real-Time Bimanual Dexterous Teleoperation for Imitation Learning3 Jul
  2. 2024Open-TeleVision: Teleoperation with Immersive Active Visual Feedback1 Jul
  3. 2024RISE: 3D Perception Makes Real-World Robot Imitation Simple and Effective18 Apr
  4. 2024DexCap: Scalable and Portable Mocap Data Collection System for Dexterous Manipulation12 Mar
  5. 2024Mobile ALOHA: Learning Bimanual Mobile Manipulation with Low-Cost Whole-Body Teleoperation4 Jan
  6. 2023GELLO: A General, Low-Cost, and Intuitive Teleoperation Framework for Robot Manipulators22 Sep
  7. 2023Learning Fine-Grained Bimanual Manipulation with Low-Cost Hardware23 Apr
  8. 2022Behavior Transformers: Cloning k modes with one stone22 Jun
  9. 2022Goal-conditioned dual-action imitation learning for dexterous dual-arm robot manipulation18 Mar
  10. 2022Training Robots without Robots: Deep Imitation Learning for Master-to-Robot Policy Transfer19 Feb
  11. 2021The Surprising Effectiveness of Representation Learning for Visual Imitation2 Dec
  12. 2020Visual Imitation Made Easy11 Aug
1 more
  1. 2018RoboTurk: A Crowdsourcing Platform for Robotic Skill Learning through Imitation7 Nov

Other references · 15

  1. 2023Diffusion Policy: Visuomotor Policy Learning via Action Diffusioncited by 2,838
  2. 2021Implicit Behavioral Cloningcited by 452
  3. 2024Universal Manipulation Interface: In-The-Wild Robot Teaching Without In-The-Wild Robotscited by 394
  4. 2017Deep Imitation Learning for Complex Manipulation Tasks from Virtual Reality Teleoperationcited by 289
  5. 2023RH20T: A Comprehensive Robotic Dataset for Learning Diverse Skills in One-Shotcited by 183
  6. 2019Grasping in the Wild:Learning 6DoF Closed-Loop Grasping from Low-Cost Demonstrationscited by 107
  7. 2024UMI on Legs: Making Manipulation Policies Mobile with Manipulation-Centric Whole-body Controllerscited by 75
  8. 2024OPEN TEACH: A Versatile Teleoperation System for Robotic Manipulationcited by 71
  9. 2024ALOHA 2: An Enhanced Low-Cost Hardware for Bimanual Teleoperationcited by 63
  10. 2023AirExo: Low-Cost Exoskeletons for Learning Whole-Arm Manipulation in the Wildcited by 47
  11. 2024ACE: A Cross-Platform Visual-Exoskeletons System for Low-Cost Dexterous Teleoperationcited by 34
  12. 2024MORPHeus: a Multimodal One-armed Robot-assisted Peeling System with Human Users In-the-loopcited by 10
3 more
  1. 2023MOMA-Force: Visual-Force Imitation for Real-World Mobile Manipulationcited by 9
  2. 2023ForceSight: Text-Guided Mobile Manipulation with Visual-Force Goalscited by 8
  3. 2019Surfing on an uncertain edge: Precision cutting of soft tissue using torque-based medium classificationcited by 2

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2024: 2; 2025: 13; 2026: 21.

36 papers.

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By area:

  1. 2025Reactive Diffusion Policy: Slow-Fast Visual-Tactile Policy Learning for Contact-Rich Manipulationcited by 108
  2. 2025ForceVLA: Enhancing VLA Models with a Force-aware MoE for Contact-rich Manipulationcited by 91
  3. 2025ManipTrans: Efficient Dexterous Bimanual Manipulation Transfer via Residual Learningcited by 66
  4. 2025FACTR: Force-Attending Curriculum Training for Contact-Rich Policy Learningcited by 34
  5. 2025TA-VLA: Elucidating the Design Space of Torque-aware Vision-Language-Action Modelscited by 32
  6. 2025Tactile-VLA: Unlocking Vision-Language-Action Model's Physical Knowledge for Tactile Generalizationcited by 19
  7. 2025AirExo-2: Scaling up Generalizable Robotic Imitation Learning with Low-Cost Exoskeletonscited by 18
  8. 2026FD-VLA: Force-Distilled Vision-Language-Action Model for Contact-Rich Manipulationcited by 17
  9. 2026FAVLA: A Force-Adaptive Fast-Slow VLA model for Contact-Rich Robotic Manipulationcited by 15
  10. 2025A Survey on Imitation Learning for Contact-Rich Tasks in Roboticscited by 14
  11. 2025ImplicitRDP: An End-to-End Visual-Force Diffusion Policy with Structural Slow-Fast Learningcited by 9
  12. 2024Learning Diffusion Policies from Demonstrations For Compliant Contact-rich Manipulationcited by 6
24 more
  1. 2026Towards Human-Like Manipulation through RL-Augmented Teleoperation and Mixture-of-Dexterous-Experts VLAcited by 5
  2. 2026ForceFlow: Learning to Feel and Act via Contact-Driven Flow Matchingcited by 5
  3. 2026UniTacVLA: Unified Tactile Understanding and Prediction in Vision Language Action Modelscited by 5
  4. 2026AugVLA-3D: Depth-Driven Feature Augmentation for Vision-Language-Action Modelscited by 4
  5. 2026RoboPocket: Improve Robot Policies Instantly with Your Phonecited by 4
  6. 2025Flow with the Force Field: Learning 3D Compliant Flow Matching Policies from Force and Demonstration-Guided Simulation Datacited by 3
  7. 2026Modular Sensory Stream for Integrating Physical Feedback in Vision-Language-Action Modelscited by 3
  8. 2026FACTR 2: Learning External Force Sensing for Commodity Robot Arms Improves Policy Learningcited by 2
  9. 2024ALPHA-α and Bi-ACT Are All You Need: Importance of Position and Force Information/Control for Imitation Learning of Unimanual and Bimanual Robotic Manipulation with Low-Cost Systemcited by 1
  10. 2025ChicGrasp: Imitation-Learning based Customized Dual-Jaw Gripper Control for Delicate, Irregular Bio-products Manipulationcited by 1
  11. 2025Gentle Object Retraction in Dense Clutter Using Multimodal Force Sensing and Imitation Learningcited by 1
  12. 2026How to Peel with a Knife: Aligning Fine-Grained Manipulation with Human Preferencecited by 1
  13. 2026Asynchronous Multimodal Diffusion Policy Composition via Latency-Aware Guidance Fusioncited by 1
  14. 2026The Embodiment Gap in Robot Foundation Modelscited by 1
  15. 2026CR-VLA-Force: Learning Control-aware Compliance VLA Model for Robust Contact-rich Robotic Manipulationcited by 1
  16. 2025Prompt2Auto: From Motion Prompt to Automated Control via Geometry-Invariant One-Shot Gaussian Process Learningcited by 0
  17. 2026Spacetime Optimal-Transport Attention for Visuo-Haptic Imitation Learning of Contact-Rich Manipulationcited by 0
  18. 2026V2P-Manip: Learning Dexterous Manipulation from Monocular Human Videoscited by 0
  19. 2026Continuous Manifold-Decomposed Impedance Retargeting for Contact-Rich Imitation Learningcited by 0
  20. 2026ForceDelta-VLA: Distilling Force-Conditioned ActionCorrections for Contact-Rich Manipulationcited by 0
  21. 2026TAO-Force: Unifying Force-Aware Perception and Fast-Slow Control for Contact-Rich Manipulationcited by 0
  22. 2026Dreaming the Sound of Contact: Leveraging Video and Audio Generation for Zero-Shot Force-Aware Manipulation and Data Generationcited by 0
  23. 2026ForceRFT: Refining VLA Actions through Force-Guided Residual Reinforcement Learningcited by 0
  24. 2026Beyond State-as-Action: Exploiting Command-State Discrepancy for Robot Imitation Learningcited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2025FLEX: A Framework for Learning Robot-Agnostic Force-based Skills Involving Sustained Contact Object Manipulation
  2. 2025Tactile-Conditioned Diffusion Policy for Force-Aware Robotic Manipulation
  3. 2022A System for Imitation Learning of Contact-Rich Bimanual Manipulation Policies
  4. 2026Wrench-ACT: Enhancing Robot Policies for Contact Rich Behavior Using Direct Wrench Control
  5. 2025FTACT: Force Torque aware Action Chunking Transformer for Pick-and-Reorient Bottle Task
  6. 2025DexForce: Extracting Force-informed Actions from Kinesthetic Demonstrations for Dexterous Manipulation
  7. 2025Adaptive Wiping: Adaptive contact-rich manipulation through few-shot imitation learning with Force-Torque feedback and pre-trained object representations
  8. 2025FILIC: Dual-Loop Force-Guided Imitation Learning with Impedance Torque Control for Contact-Rich Manipulation Tasks