Control

Operational Space Control (OSC)

Operational space control (OSC) is a control framework, formulated by Oussama Khatib in 1987, that expresses robot dynamics and control objectives directly in task space, such as end-effector position and orientation, rather than in joint space. Using the task-space inertia matrix, OSC produces dynamically consistent forces for the task while secondary objectives run in the null space, enabling compliant, force-aware manipulation.

Why it matters for physical AI

Task-space compliance is the natural interface for contact-rich work and for executing learned end-effector actions, making OSC a common low-level layer beneath manipulation policies.