M A HAFIZ

Robotics Results, Evaluation & Sim-to-Real Validation

Erlangen, Germany • Robot Manipulation • Simulation • Control

Measured Robotics Results & Engineering Impact

This page presents measurable outcomes from my robotics work, including simulation-to-real control, robot-policy evaluation, manipulation accuracy, contact behavior, regression detection, scene-aware planning, and deployment decisions.

Summary: My work combines measurable robot-control performance, simulation-to-real validation, and deployment-oriented evaluation. The results below include positioning accuracy, contact behavior, policy regression detection, state-aware manipulation, and automated SHIP / BLOCK decisions.

100%

Task Success Rate in the evaluation demo

Measured over five episodes in the Robot Eval Platform demonstration.

20.8 ms

Mean Candidate Control Latency

A regression of 3.6 ms, or 21%, compared with the 17.2 ms baseline.

BLOCK

Automatic Release-Gate Decision

The candidate was blocked because it violated the latency regression rule despite completing the task successfully.

Robot Eval Platform — Regression-Gating Outcomes

  • Converted automated rollouts into metrics, videos, and reports for each run.
  • Compared locked baselines with candidate controllers and produced an explicit SHIP / BLOCK decision.
  • Reported the exact rule responsible for blocking a candidate, supporting traceability and auditability.
  • Integrated release gating with CI workflows so a performance regression can fail deployment checks.
FastAPI React PostgreSQL MinIO / S3 CI Gating
Example: The candidate achieved 100% task success but was still BLOCKED because mean control latency regressed by 21% relative to the baseline.

Gate rules used in the demonstration

  • Success rate must be at least equal to baseline
  • Mean control latency must not exceed baseline
  • Safety violations must remain zero

This decision layer prevents silent regressions from progressing toward real-robot deployment.

Evidence — Screenshots and Demo Video

Evaluation and regression-gating demonstration

Run execution → rollout video → evaluation metrics → artifacts → SHIP / BLOCK decision.

Key screenshots

Robot evaluation overview showing a BLOCK decision
Overview: Candidate blocked despite 100% success because of a latency regression.
Baseline and candidate run comparison
Comparison: Baseline 17.2 ms versus candidate 20.8 ms.
Evaluation runs with SHIP and BLOCK history
Run history: Stored SHIP / BLOCK decisions across multiple runs.
Detailed robot evaluation gate rule
Gate details: Exact rule-level failure reason.
Robot rollout video stored as an evaluation artifact
Run artifact: Stored rollout preview for traceability.
Robot evaluation policy settings
Settings: Visible evaluation policy and metric requirements.

Natural-Language Franka Agent — State-Aware Manipulation

3.8 mm

Held-Object Placement Error

A held blue cube was placed on the purple cube with approximately 3.8 mm XY placement error.

8

Persistent Scene Objects

Eight colored cubes remain available across consecutive natural-language commands.

PASS

Blocker-Aware Pick Execution

When a requested cube was blocked from above, the planner removed the blocker before picking the target cube.

  • Persistent natural-language command execution in NVIDIA Isaac Sim
  • Pick, hold, release, place, and cube-on-cube stacking
  • Scene-graph-based detection of cubes above a target object
  • Source-stack and occupied-destination handling
  • Temporary buffer movements for rearrangement conflicts
  • Procedural generation of letters and digits from font geometry
  • Per-step verification of XY and Z placement errors
NVIDIA Isaac Sim Franka Python Qwen3 Ollama Streamlit Scene Graph
Natural-language instruction
  ↓
Intent or character extraction
  ↓
Procedural / state-aware plan
  ↓
Current-scene analysis
  ↓
Source-blocker and destination-occupancy handling
  ↓
Isaac Sim manipulation execution
  ↓
Per-step placement verification

Persistent manipulation-agent demonstration

Natural-language commands are converted into validated plans and executed by a persistent Franka robot scene.

Franka FR3 — Gesture-Driven Control and Sim-to-Real Validation

3.06 mm

Best Final Reach Error

Participant P02 achieved 3.06 mm final positioning error during Task 1, Trial 5.

98.8%

Reach-Error Reduction

P02 reduced positioning error from 248.40 mm to 3.06 mm across five trials.

38.94 N

Maximum Recorded Contact Force

P01 reached a peak of 38.94 N during the threaded insertion and screwing task.

  • Gesture-based interface using EMG and IMU signals
  • Axis selection and command execution using a lock-and-unlock interaction state machine
  • Cartesian translation and orientation commands through Jacobian and inverse-kinematics-based control
  • Validation in both MuJoCo and a real Franka FR3 robot
  • Free-space reach testing and contact-rich screw insertion
  • Measurement of end-effector error, force, torque, and rotational alignment
Franka FR3 EMG IMU Cartesian Control MuJoCo Sim-to-Real Contact-Rich Manipulation
Key point: This is not direct gesture-to-joint motion. It is a complete human–robot interaction workflow with signal processing, gesture classification, command-state management, Cartesian control, safety constraints, and measurable task outcomes.
EMG / IMU signals
  ↓
Filtering, features and classification
  ↓
Interaction state machine
  ↓
Axis and direction command
  ↓
Cartesian / rotational controller
  ↓
MuJoCo validation
  ↓
Real Franka FR3 deployment

Objective thesis-results snapshot

Participant Task 1 Reach Error
Trial 1 → Trial 5
Error Reduction Task 2 Force Range Task 2 Rotation Error
P01 322.27 mm → 7.05 mm Approximately 97.8% 4.46–38.94 N ≤ 0.32°, then near 0°
P02 248.40 mm → 3.06 mm Approximately 98.8% 1.61–26.64 N 0–0.15°
P03 34.16 mm → 4.91 mm Approximately 85.6% 15.11–20.86 N 0–0.07°

For the contact-rich screwing task, force, torque, and rotational alignment provide more useful evidence than positional error alone.

Evidence — Gesture Interface, MuJoCo and Real FR3

MuJoCo simulation demonstration

Gesture-driven interface and Cartesian command execution in simulation.

Real Franka FR3 deployment

The gesture-driven control workflow transferred from simulation to the real Franka FR3.

Interface, experiment and result evidence

Gesture-based robot control menu
Gesture interface: Axis selection with lock-and-unlock control.
Real Franka FR3 experiment setup
Real setup: Franka FR3 experiment configuration used for the study.
Task 1 reach error across trials
Task 1: Reach error decreased across repeated trials.
Force and torque during the screw insertion task
Task 2: Force and torque behavior during threaded contact.

What I Optimize For

  • Measurable progress: repeatable experiments and clearly defined metrics
  • Stability and safety: limits, smooth control, and predictable behavior
  • Failure visibility: traceable failure causes rather than only success labels
  • Deployment readiness: explicit validation checks before real-world execution
  • Efficient iteration: simulate → evaluate → diagnose → improve