  This work discusses the use of model predictive control (MPC) for the
manipulation of a pusher-slider system. In particular we leverage the
differential flatness of the pusher-slider in combination with a B-splines
transcription to address the computational demand that is typically associated
to real-time implementation of an MPC controller. We demonstrate the flatness
based B-spline MPC controller in simulation and compare it to a standard MPC
implementation approach using direct multiple shooting. We evaluate the
computational advantage of the flatness based MPC empirically and document
computational acceleration up to 65%.
