https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191017121925.htm

But for a robot -- say, one that's sorting through a bin of objects and attempting to get a good grasp on one of them -- this is a computationally taxing maneuver. Before even attempting the move it must calculate a litany of properties and probabilities, such as the friction and geometry of the table, the pen, and its two fingers, and how various combinations of these properties interact mechanically, based on fundamental laws of physics.

Now MIT engineers have found a way to significantly speed up the planning process required for a robot to adjust its grasp on an object by pushing that object against a stationary surface. Whereas traditional algorithms would require tens of minutes for planning out a sequence of motions, the new team's approach shaves this preplanning process down to less than a second.