# NLiPsCalib: An Efficient Calibration Framework for High-Fidelity 3D Reconstruction of Curved Visuotactile Sensors

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.09319 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.09319/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 23 of its 39 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 10 Mar 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 23 of 23)

- [OmniTact: A Multi-Directional High Resolution Touch Sensor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.06965/) (2020)
- [Neural feels with neural fields: Visuo-tactile perception for in-hand manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.13469/) (2023)
- [9DTact: A Compact Vision-Based Tactile Sensor for Accurate 3D Shape Reconstruction and Generalizable 6D Force Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.14277/) (2023)
- [ORBIT-Surgical: An Open-Simulation Framework for Learning Surgical Augmented Dexterity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.16027/) (2024)
- [GelTip: A Finger-shaped Optical Tactile Sensor for Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.05404/) (2020)
- [Tac2Pose: Tactile Object Pose Estimation from the First Touch](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.11701/) (2022)
- [LED-based Photometric Stereo: Modeling, Calibration and Numerical Solution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.01018/) (2017)
- [GelSight Svelte: A Human Finger-shaped Single-camera Tactile Robot Finger with Large Sensing Coverage and Proprioceptive Sensing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.10885/) (2023)
- [A soft thumb-sized vision-based sensor with accurate all-round force perception](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.05934/) (2021)
- [A Sensorized Multicurved Robot Finger with Data-driven Touch Sensing via Overlapping Light Signals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.00685/) (2020)
- [Soft, Round, High Resolution Tactile Fingertip Sensors for Dexterous Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.09068/) (2020)
- [DenseTact 2.0: Optical Tactile Sensor for Shape and Force Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.10122/) (2022)
- [DTact: A Vision-Based Tactile Sensor that Measures High-Resolution 3D Geometry Directly from Darkness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.13916/) (2022)
- [DelTact: A Vision-based Tactile Sensor Using Dense Color Pattern](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.02179/) (2022)
- [GelSLAM: A Real-time, High-Fidelity, and Robust 3D Tactile SLAM System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.15990/) (2025)
- [GelSight360: An Omnidirectional Camera-Based Tactile Sensor for Dexterous Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.04268/) (2023)
- [PP-Tac: Paper Picking Using Tactile Feedback in Dexterous Robotic Hands](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.16649/) (2025)
- [Tac2Structure: Object Surface Reconstruction Only through Multi Times Touch](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.06545/) (2022)
- [Beyond Flat GelSight Sensors: Simulation of Optical Tactile Sensors of Complex Morphologies for Sim2Real Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.12605/) (2023)
- [RainbowSight: A Family of Generalizable, Curved, Camera-Based Tactile Sensors For Shape Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.13649/) (2024)
- [MiniTac: An Ultra-Compact 8 mm Vision-Based Tactile Sensor for Enhanced Palpation in Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.22691/) (2024)
- [HumanFT: A Human-like Fingertip Multimodal Visuo-Tactile Sensor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.10353/) (2024)
- [3D Vision-tactile Reconstruction from Infrared and Visible Images for Robotic Fine-grained Tactile Perception](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.15087/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [AURORA: Active Uncertainty-Driven Re-Orientation for In-Hand Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.08493/) (2026)
- [Calibration-Free Surface Normals Estimation in Vision-Based Tactile Sensing using Universal Photometric Stereo](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.31754/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Recent advances in visuotactile sensors increasingly employ biomimetic curved surfaces to enhance sensorimotor capabilities. Although such curved visuotactile sensors enable more conformal object contact, their perceptual quality is often degraded by non-uniform illumination, which reduces reconstruction accuracy and typically necessitates calibration. Existing calibration methods commonly rely on customized indenters and specialized devices to collect large-scale photometric data, but these processes are expensive and labor-intensive. To overcome these calibration challenges, we present NLiPsCalib, a physics-consistent and efficient calibration framework for curved visuotactile sensors. NLiPsCalib integrates controllable near-field light sources and leverages Near-Light Photometric Stereo (NLiPs) to estimate contact geometry, simplifying calibration to just a few simple contacts with everyday objects. We further introduce NLiPsTac, a controllable-light-source tactile sensor developed to validate our framework. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach enables high-fidelity 3D reconstruction across diverse curved form factors with a simple calibration procedure. We emphasize that our approach lowers the barrier to developing customized visuotactile sensors of diverse geometries, thereby making visuotactile sensing more accessible to the broader community.