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arXiv · 2610.31841

FORCA: A Force-Aware Coding Agent for Contact-Rich Robot Manipulation

Xiao Tan·Yixuan Wang·Zhexi Wang·Wenzhen Yuan
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Abstract

Coding agents can translate language instructions into robot programs. For contact-rich manipulation, a key challenge is to generate and refine control logic that responds to physical interaction. We present FORCA, a coding agent that takes visual observations and wrist force/torque (F/T) measurements as input to write Python programs for contact probing and force-responsive motion. Between executions, the agent inspects force records alongside visual outcomes to diagnose failures and revise both motion and force-feedback control logic. FORCA requires no demonstrations, task-specific training, or simulation. Across five real-robot tasks, we demonstrate its effectiveness in three forms of contact-rich manipulation: improving manipulation accuracy, adapting to changes in object or surface properties, and regulating contact under surface variation and object motion. Compared with a vision-only variant of the same agent, FORCA improves grasp accuracy and task success and reduces contact loss in wiping and peeling.

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Xiao Tan, Yixuan Wang, Zhexi Wang, Wenzhen Yuan. 2026-10-22. FORCA: A Force-Aware Coding Agent for Contact-Rich Robot Manipulation. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.31841

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