Papers
10
Total Citations
180
H-Index
5
About
Martin Pfanne is a leading researcher in dexterous robotic manipulation, with a primary focus on enabling robots to perform complex in-hand object tasks with precision and compliance. His key contributions lie at the intersection of object-level impedance control, in-hand object localization, and compliant actuation. Pfanne’s most influential work, "Object-Level Impedance Control for Dexterous In-Hand Manipulation" (49 citations), introduces a novel framework that allows torque-controlled robotic hands to compliantly position a grasped object in 6 degrees of freedom, crucially using in-hand localization to prevent slippage. He has also pioneered methods for fusing joint measurements with visual features to estimate object pose during manipulation (41 citations), and developed early techniques for online in-hand object localization using only joint position and torque data (43 citations). Beyond manipulation, Pfanne has advanced control for compliant robots, notably through Elastic Structure Preserving Control for agonistic-antagonistic actuators (22 citations), and addressed practical challenges like friction estimation in tendon-driven hands. His work on the TINA modular torque-controlled robotic arm, designed for Mars Sample Return missions, demonstrates the real-world applicability of his research in demanding environments.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Object-Level Impedance Control for Dexterous In-Hand Manipulation49 citations · 2020
- 2Online in-hand object localization43 citations · 2013
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- 6Friction Estimation for Tendon-Driven Robotic Hands5 citations · 2021
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- 9TINA: small torque controlled robotic arm for exploration and small satellites2 citations · 2019
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