Related papers: Nonsmooth optimal value and policy functions in me…
In this paper we use an affine connection formulation to study an optimal control problem for a class of nonholonomic, under-actuated mechanical systems. In particular, we aim at minimizing the norm-squared of the control input to move the…
The paper is devoted to the study of a new class of optimal control problems for nonsmooth dynamical systems governed by nonconvex discontinuous differential inclusions of the sweeping type with involving variable time into optimization. We…
The main goal of this paper is developing the method of discrete approximations to derive necessary optimality conditions for a class of constrained sweeping processes with nonsmooth perturbations. Optimal control problems for sweeping…
Here we derive a nonsmooth maximum principle for optimal control problems with both state and mixed constraints. Crucial to our development is a convexity assumption on the "velocity set". The approach consists of applying known…
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…
We deal with the convergence of the value function of an approximate control problem with uncertain dynamics to the value function of a nonlinear optimal control problem. The assumptions on the dynamics and the costs are rather general and…
Non-smooth dynamics driven by stochastic disturbance arise in a wide variety of engineering problems. Impulsive interventions are often employed to control stochastic systems; however, the modeling and analysis subject to execution delay…
This work studies the design of safe control policies for large-scale non-linear systems operating in uncertain environments. In such a case, the robust control framework is a principled approach to safety that aims to maximize the…
This paper considers the problem of maintaining global connectivity of a multi-robot system while executing a desired coordination task. Our approach builds on optimization-based feedback design formulations, where the nominal cost function…
Most interesting problems in robotics (e.g., locomotion and manipulation) are realized through intermittent contact with the environment. Due to the perception and modeling errors, assuming an exact time for establishing contact with the…
Robust control seeks stabilizing policies that perform reliably under adversarial disturbances, with $\mathcal{H}_\infty$ control as a classical formulation. It is known that policy optimization of robust $\mathcal{H}_\infty$ control…
This paper investigates optimal control problems formulated over a class of piecewise-smooth vector fields. Instead of optimizing over the discontinuous system directly, we instead formulate optimal control problems over a family of…
For a broad class of nonlinear systems, we formulate the problem of guaranteeing safety with optimality under constraints. Specifically, we define controlled safety for differential inclusions with constraints on the states and the inputs.…
This article presents a constrained policy optimization approach for the optimal control of systems under nonstationary uncertainties. We introduce an assumption that we call Markov embeddability that allows us to cast the stochastic…
Optimal control (OC) algorithms such as Differential Dynamic Programming (DDP) take advantage of the derivatives of the dynamics to efficiently control physical systems. Yet, in the presence of nonsmooth dynamical systems, such class of…
Time optimal control problems for some non-smooth systems in general form are considered. The non-smoothness is caused by singularity. It is proved that Pontryagin's maximum principle holds for at least one optimal relaxed control. Thus,…
Humanoid robots are machines built with an anthropomorphic shape. Despite decades of research into the subject, it is still challenging to tackle the robot locomotion problem from an algorithmic point of view. For example, these machines…
This work investigates a dynamical system functioning as a nonsmooth adaptation of the continuous Newton method, aimed at minimizing the sum of a primal lower-regular and a locally Lipschitz function, both potentially nonsmooth. The…
Numerically computing global policies to optimal control problems for complex dynamical systems is mostly intractable. In consequence, a number of approximation methods have been developed. However, none of the current methods can quantify…
We present a Pontryagin maximum principle for discrete time optimal control problems with (a) pointwise constraints on the control actions and the states, (b) frequency constraints on the control and the state trajectories, and (c)…