Related papers: Characterization of accessibility for affine conne…
The 'infinite' passive degrees of freedom of soft robotic arms render their control especially challenging. In this paper, we leverage a previously developed model, which drawing equivalence of the soft arm to a series of universal joints,…
A generalized definition of a frame of reference in spaces with affine connections and metrics is proposed based on the set of the following differential-geometric objects: (a) a non-null (non-isotropic) vector field, (b) the orthogonal to…
We consider the problem of controlling an aerial robot connected to the ground by a passive cable or a passive rigid link. We provide a thorough characterization of this nonlinear dynamical robotic system in terms of fundamental properties…
We study the reach control problem for affine systems on simplices, and the focus is on cases when it is known that the problem is not solvable by continuous state feedback. We examine from a geometric viewpoint the structural properties of…
Many robotic systems are underactuated, meaning not all degrees of freedom can be directly controlled due to lack of actuators, input constraints, or state-dependent actuation. This property, compounded by modeling uncertainties and…
The paper deals with exact null-controllability problem for a linear control system consisting of two serially connected abstract control systems. Controllability conditions are obtained. Applications to the exact null-controllability for…
We investigate optimal reachability and grasping problems for a planar soft manipulator, from both a theoretical and numerical point of view. The underlying control model describes the evolution of the symmetry axis of the device, which is…
The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of trivial control systems, namely systems whose dynamics depends on the controls only. Trivial systems have been introduced and studied by Serres in the the context of control-nonlinear…
We are introducing a model-free control and a control with a restricted model for finite-dimensional complex systems. This control design may be viewed as a contribution to "intelligent" PID controllers, the tuning of which becomes quite…
In this paper, first, it is shown that if a nonlinear time-varying system is contractive, then it is incrementally exponentially stable. Second, leveraging this result, under mild restrictions, an approach is proposed to design feedforward…
We investigate optimal control of dynamical systems which are affine, i.e., linear in control, but nonlinear in state. The control task is to enforce the system state to follow a prescribed desired trajectory as closely as possible, a task…
For control-affine systems on non-compact manifolds, the notion of strong chain control sets is introduced and related to the strong chain transitivity of the associated control flows. Affine control systems on R^n are embedded into…
Determining the reachable set for a given nonlinear control system is crucial for system control and planning. However, computing such a set is impossible if the system's dynamics are not fully known. This paper is motivated by a scenario…
Affordance, defined as the potential actions that an object offers, is crucial for embodied AI agents. For example, such knowledge directs an agent to grasp a knife by the handle for cutting or by the blade for safe handover. While existing…
This paper presents a new technique for the design of approximate reasoning based controllers for dynamic physical systems with interacting goals. In this approach, goals are achieved based on a hierarchy defined by a control knowledge base…
This paper introduces control barrier functions for discrete-time systems, which can be shown to be necessary and sufficient for controlled invariance of a given set. Moreover, we propose nonlinear discrete-time control barrier functions…
This chapter is about the fundamentals of fabrication, control, and human-robot interaction of a new type of collaborative robotic manipulators, called malleable robots, which are based on adjustable architectures of varying stiffness for…
In this work, we study controllability in the set of all density matrices for a two-level open quantum system driven by coherent and incoherent controls. In [A. Pechen, Phys. Rev. A 84, 042106 (2011)] an approximate controllability, i.e.,…
Automated vehicles present unique opportunities and challenges, with progress and adoption limited, in part, by policy and regulatory barriers. Underrepresented groups, including individuals with mobility impairments, sensory disabilities,…
Reconfigurable robot swarms are capable of connecting with each other to form complex structures. Current mechanical or magnetic connection mechanisms can be complicated to manufacture, consume high power, have a limited load-bearing…