Related papers: Kinetic description of optimal control problems an…
Navigating a collision-free and optimal trajectory for a robot is a challenging task, particularly in environments with moving obstacles such as humans. We formulate this problem as a stochastic optimal control problem. Since solving the…
The optimal control problem of stochastic systems is commonly solved via robust or scenario-based optimization methods, which are both challenging to scale to long optimization horizons. We cast the optimal control problem of a stochastic…
We consider a finite-horizon linear-quadratic optimal control problem where only a limited number of control messages are allowed for sending from the controller to the actuator. To restrict the number of control actions computed and…
In this paper the optimal control of alignment models composed by a large number of agents is investigated in presence of a selective action of a controller, acting in order to enhance consensus. Two types of selective controls have been…
This paper investigates a pattern formation control problem for a multi-agent system modeled with given interaction topology, in which $m$ of the $n$ agents are chosen as leaders and consequently a control signal is added to each of the…
This paper considers the problem of designing time-dependent, real-time control policies for controllable nonlinear diffusion processes, with the goal of obtaining maximally-informative observations about parameters of interest. More…
In this paper we consider the modeling of opinion dynamics over time dependent large scale networks. A kinetic description of the agents' distribution over the evolving network is considered which combines an opinion update based on binary…
A particle filter is introduced to numerically approximate a solution of the global optimization problem. The theoretical significance of this work comes from its variational aspects: (i) the proposed particle filter is a controlled…
We consider a nonlinear kinetic equation of Boltzmann type which takes into account the influence of conviction during the formation of opinion in a system of agents which interact through the binary exchanges introduced in [G. Toscani,…
This paper proposes a method to compute lower performance bounds for discrete-time infinite-horizon min-max control problems with input constraints and bounded disturbances. Such bounds can be used as a performance metric for control…
We consider a system of $N$ interacting particles, governed by transport and diffusion, that converges in a mean-field limit to the solution of a McKean-Vlasov equation. From the observation of a trajectory of the system over a fixed time…
In recent papers it has been suggested that human locomotion may be modeled as an inverse optimal control problem. In this paradigm, the trajectories are assumed to be solutions of an optimal control problem that has to be determined. We…
This paper addresses the problem of optimal control of robotic sensing systems aimed at autonomous information gathering in scenarios such as environmental monitoring, search and rescue, and surveillance and reconnaissance. The information…
This paper discusses a novel probabilistic approach for the design of robust model predictive control (MPC) laws for discrete-time linear systems affected by parametric uncertainty and additive disturbances. The proposed technique is based…
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…
The convex analytic method has proved to be a very versatile method for the study of infinite horizon average cost optimal stochastic control problems. In this paper, we revisit the convex analytic method and make three primary…
We study the rate of convergence to equilibrium of the solution of a Fokker--Planck type equation introduced by one of the authors in 2006 to describe opinion formation in a multi-agent system. The main feature of this Fokker--Planck…
This paper focuses on describing the impact of policy actions on individuals' opinions in the presence of social and external influences toward proposing preliminary nudging strategies to achieve a cost-effectiveness trade-off. To this end,…
This article presents a new technique for suboptimal consensus protocol design for a class of multiagent systems. The technique is based upon the extension of newly developed sufficient conditions for suboptimal linear-quadratic optimal…
Model Predictive Control (MPC) has proven to be a powerful tool for the control of systems with constraints. Nonetheless, in many applications, a major challenge arises, that is finding the optimal solution within a single sampling instant…