Related papers: A Hybrid Systems Model for Simple Manipulation and…
Feedback optimization algorithms compute inputs to a system using real-time output measurements, which helps mitigate the effects of disturbances. However, existing work often models both system dynamics and computations in either discrete…
Mathematical models are crucial for optimizing and controlling chemical processes, yet they often face significant limitations in terms of computational time, algorithm complexity, and development costs. Hybrid models, which combine…
Forthcoming applications concerning humanoid robots may involve physical interaction between the robot and a dynamic environment. In such scenario, classical balancing and walking controllers that neglect the environment dynamics may not be…
Robotic manipulation in unstructured environments requires planners to reason jointly about free-space motion and sustained, frictional contact with the environment. Existing (local) planning and simulation frameworks typically separate…
Soft robotics focuses on designing robots with highly deformable materials, allowing them to adapt and operate safely and reliably in unstructured and variable environments. While soft robots offer increased compliance over rigid body…
High-performance closed-loop control of truly soft continuum manipulators has remained elusive. Experimental demonstrations have largely relied on sufficiently stiff, piecewise architectures in which each actuated segment behaves as a…
Tendon-driven continuum robots offer intrinsically safe and contact-rich interactions owing to their kinematic redundancy and structural compliance. However, their perception often depends on external sensors, which increase hardware…
Physics simulation is ubiquitous in robotics. Whether in model-based approaches (e.g., trajectory optimization), or model-free algorithms (e.g., reinforcement learning), physics simulators are a central component of modern control pipelines…
Robotic manipulation and locomotion often entail nearly-simultaneous collisions -- such as heel and toe strikes during a foot step -- with outcomes that are extremely sensitive to the order in which impacts occur. Robotic simulators…
Soft robotics has advanced rapidly, yet its control methods remain fragmented: different morphologies and actuation schemes still require task-specific controllers, hindering theoretical integration and large-scale deployment. A generic…
Generating intelligent robot behavior in contact-rich settings is a research problem where zeroth-order methods currently prevail. A major contributor to the success of such methods is their robustness in the face of non-smooth and…
Hybrid systems are characterized by having an interaction between continuous dynamics and discrete events. The contribution of this paper is to provide hybrid systems with a novel geometric formulation so that controls can be added. Using…
Accurately modeling contact behaviors for real-world, near-rigid materials remains a grand challenge for existing rigid-body physics simulators. This paper introduces a data-augmented contact model that incorporates analytical solutions…
We present a numerically tractable formulation for computing the optimal control of the class of hybrid dynamical systems whose trajectories are continuous. Our formulation, an extension of existing relaxed-control techniques for switched…
Hybrid dynamical systems have proven to be a powerful modeling abstraction, yet fundamental questions regarding the dynamical properties of these systems remain. In this paper, we develop a novel class of relaxations which we use to recover…
Continuum soft robots are inherently underactuated and subject to intrinsic input constraints, making dynamic control particularly challenging, especially in hybrid rigid-soft robots. While most existing methods focus on quasi-static…
Hybrid systems are characterized by the hybrid evolution of their state: A part of the state changes discretely, the other part changes continuously over time. Typically, modern control applications belong to this class of systems, where a…
Field robot systems have recently been applied to a wide range of research fields. Making such systems more automated, advanced, and activated requires cooperation among heterogeneous robots. Classic control theory is inefficient in…
Bio-hybrid systems---close couplings of natural organisms with technology---are high potential and still underexplored. In existing work, robots have mostly influenced group behaviors of animals. We explore the possibilities of mixing…
This manuscript presents a model of compliant contacts for time-critical humanoid robot motion control. The proposed model considers the environment as a continuum of spring-damper systems, which allows us to compute the equivalent contact…