Peg-in-Hole with Impedance

Key Insight

Robotic insertion tasks with tiny clearances, such as peg-in-hole assembly, will fail and jam under rigid position control due to small alignment errors. By employing software compliance via impedance control, the robot acts as a virtual spring-damper system that yields to contact forces rather than fighting them. Combining this compliance with search strategies like spiral force-search allows the robot to locate the hole, align the parts, and complete the insertion smoothly and safely.