2026

1. [W] RoboFin3D: A Sim-to-Real Platform for Robotic Surface Finishing
   Haowei Wen, Shangtao Li, Vaibhav Sanjay, Philip Huang, Jiaoyang Li and Changliu Liu
   IROS 2026 Workshop on Sim2Real and Classical Control: From Rigorous Theory to Data-Driven Robotics, 2026
   

   Preprint Poster Abstract Cite

   Citation Formats: BibTeX Plain Text

   Abstract:
   

   Grinding and sanding are fundamental processes in industrial robotic surface finishing. However, physical trials are expensive and consume workpieces, making reproducible experiments difficult. We present RoboFin3D, a sim-to-real platform built on Isaac Sim and the Newton physics engine, that provides physics-based grinding and sanding simulation for cheap and repeatable robotic surface finishing experiments. RoboFin3D utilizes a signed distance field (SDF) to model the changing geometry of the workpiece, enabling contact computation, live updates and rendering without an intermediate mesh. It additionally uses a separate surface field to model progressive surface appearance change during sanding. We also introduce WeldGen, a weld sampling module, to generate weld beads on 8,918 real-world workpiece meshes for providing diverse simulation assets. The simulation parameters are calibrated on real experimental results and our evaluation demonstrates our simulation’s fidelity against the real world. We also demonstrate that simulation-generated data can be used to improve the performance of perception models. Simulation-only fine-tuning of SAM2 improves IoU for segmentation of unsanded regions from 77.15% to 84.47%, while combined synthetic and real training reaches 97.41%.

1. [U] BrickSim: A Physics-Based Simulator for Manipulating Interlocking Brick Assemblies
   Haowei Wen, Ruixuan Liu, Weiyi Piao, Siyu Li and Changliu Liu
   arXiv:2603.16853, 2026
   

   Preprint Page Code Video Slides Abstract Cite

   Citation Formats: BibTeX Plain Text

   Abstract:
   

   Interlocking brick assemblies provide a standardized yet challenging testbed for contact-rich and long-horizon robotic manipulation, but existing rigid-body simulators do not faithfully capture snap-fit mechanics. We present BrickSim, the first real-time physics-based simulator for interlocking brick assemblies. BrickSim introduces a compact force-based mechanics model for snap-fit connections and solves the resulting internal force distribution using a structured convex quadratic program. Combined with a hybrid architecture that delegates rigid-body dynamics to the underlying physics engine while handling snap-fit mechanics separately, BrickSim enables real-time, high-fidelity simulation of assembly, disassembly, and structural collapse. On 150 real-world assemblies, BrickSim achieves 100% accuracy in static stability prediction with an average solve time of 5 ms. In dynamic drop tests, it also faithfully reproduces real-world structural collapse, precisely mirroring both the occurrence of breakage and the specific breakage locations. Built on Isaac Sim, BrickSim further supports seamless integration with a wide variety of robots and existing pipelines. We demonstrate robotic construction of brick assemblies using BrickSim, highlighting its potential as a foundation for research in dexterous, long-horizon robotic manipulation. BrickSim is open-source, and the code is available at https://github.com/intelligent-control-lab/BrickSim.

   Video: