Related papers: Policy-contingent abstraction for robust robot con…
We present a hierarchical model predictive control approach for large-scale systems based on dual decomposition. The proposed scheme allows coupling in both dynamics and constraints between the subsystems and generates a primal feasible…
In this paper we present a model predictive control (MPC) approach to optimize vehicle scheduling and routing in an autonomous mobility-on-demand (AMoD) system. In AMoD systems, robotic, self-driving vehicles transport customers within an…
The successful operation of mobile robots requires them to adapt rapidly to environmental changes. To develop an adaptive decision-making tool for mobile robots, we propose a novel algorithm that combines meta-reinforcement learning…
Large-scale cyber-physical systems require that control policies are distributed, that is, that they only rely on local real-time measurements and communication with neighboring agents. Optimal Distributed Control (ODC) problems are,…
Developing applications considering reactiveness, scalability and re-usability has always been at the center of attention of robotic researchers. Behavior-based architectures have been proposed as a programming paradigm to develop robust…
In this paper, we develop a control framework for the coordination of multiple robots as they navigate through crowded environments. Our framework comprises of a local model predictive control (MPC) for each robot and a social long…
Model predictive control (MPC) is an effective method for controlling robotic systems, particularly autonomous aerial vehicles such as quadcopters. However, application of MPC can be computationally demanding, and typically requires…
Payload transport over flat terrain via multi-wheel robot carriers is well-understood, highly effective, and configurable. In this paper, our goal is to provide similar effectiveness and configurability for transport over rough terrain that…
Safety is critical in robotic tasks. Energy function based methods have been introduced to address the problem. To ensure safety in the presence of control limits, we need to design an energy function that results in persistently feasible…
In distributed model predictive control (MPC), the control input at each sampling time is computed by solving a large-scale optimal control problem (OCP) over a finite horizon using distributed algorithms. Typically, such algorithms require…
Human-robot handover is a fundamental yet challenging task in human-robot interaction and collaboration. Recently, remarkable progressions have been made in human-to-robot handovers of unknown objects by using learning-based grasp…
Partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) are a powerful abstraction for tasks that require decision making under uncertainty, and capture a wide range of real world tasks. Today, effective planning approaches exist that…
Uncertain partially observable Markov decision processes (uPOMDPs) allow the probabilistic transition and observation functions of standard POMDPs to belong to a so-called uncertainty set. Such uncertainty, referred to as epistemic…
Addressing uncertainty is critical for autonomous systems to robustly adapt to the real world. We formulate the problem of model uncertainty as a continuous Bayes-Adaptive Markov Decision Process (BAMDP), where an agent maintains a…
We present a novel solution to the problem of simulation-to-real transfer, which builds on recent advances in robot skill decomposition. Rather than focusing on minimizing the simulation-reality gap, we learn a set of diverse policies that…
As compared to typical mobile manipulation tasks, sequential mobile manipulation poses a unique challenge -- as the robot operates over extended periods, successful task completion is not solely dependent on consistent motion generation but…
This paper proposes to use probabilistic model checking to synthesize optimal robot policies in multi-tasking autonomous systems that are subject to human-robot interaction. Given the convincing empirical evidence that human behavior can be…
Decision-making under uncertainty is a crucial ability for autonomous systems. In its most general form, this problem can be formulated as a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP). The solution policy of a POMDP can be…
Self-organized aggregation is a well studied behavior in swarm robotics as it is the pre-condition for the development of more advanced group-level responses. In this paper, we investigate the design of decentralized algorithms for a swarm…
Controlling high-dimensional nonlinear systems, such as those found in biological and robotic applications, is challenging due to large state and action spaces. While deep reinforcement learning has achieved a number of successes in these…