Related papers: Convex Controller Synthesis for Robot Contact
The aim of this work is to address issues where formal specifications cannot be realized on a given dynamical system subjected to a changing environment. Such failures occur whenever the dynamics of the system restrict the robot in such a…
Most impedance control schemes in robotics implement a desired passive impedance, allowing for stable interaction between the controlled robot and the environment. However, there is little guidance on the selection of the desired impedance.…
As the complexity of control systems increases, safety becomes an increasingly important property since safety violations can damage the plant and put the system operator in danger. When the system dynamics are unknown, safety-critical…
With the increasing ubiquity of multi-capable, general-purpose robots arises the need for enabling non-expert users to command these robots to perform complex high-level tasks. To this end, high-level robot control has seen the application…
Convex optimization is crucial in controlling legged robots, where stability and optimal control are vital. Many control problems can be formulated as convex optimization problems, with a convex cost function and constraints capturing…
We present a convex formulation of compliant frictional contact and a robust, performant method to solve it in practice. By analytically eliminating contact constraints, we obtain an unconstrained convex problem. Our solver has proven…
Modular robots can be tailored to achieve specific tasks and rearranged to achieve previously infeasible ones. The challenge is choosing an appropriate design from a large search space. In this work, we describe a framework that…
Manipulation tasks can often be decomposed into multiple subtasks performed in parallel, e.g., sliding an object to a goal pose while maintaining contact with a table. Individual subtasks can be achieved by task-axis controllers defined…
We begin this paper by presenting our approach to robot manipulation, which emphasizes the benefits of making contact with the world across the entire manipulator. We assume that low contact forces are benign, and focus on the development…
We consider the problem of how to deploy a controller to a (networked) cyber-physical system (CPS). Controlling a CPS is an involved task, and synthesizing a controller to respect sensing, actuation, and communication constraints is only…
Humans interact with an object in many different ways by making contact at different locations, creating a highly complex motion space that can be difficult to learn, particularly when synthesizing such human interactions in a controllable…
The inherent uncertainty of dynamic environments poses significant challenges for modeling robot behavior, particularly in tasks such as collision avoidance. This paper presents an online controller synthesis framework tailored for robots…
Robots must make and break contact with the environment to perform useful tasks, but planning and control through contact remains a formidable challenge. In this work, we achieve real-time contact-implicit model predictive control with a…
Industrial manipulators are normally operated in cluttered environments, making safe motion planning important. Furthermore, the presence of model-uncertainties make safe motion planning more difficult. Therefore, in practice the speed is…
State-of-the-art robotics simulators operate in discrete time. This requires users to choose a time step, which is both critical and challenging: large steps can produce non-physical artifacts, while small steps force the simulation to run…
In this article, the problem of synthesizing switching controllers is considered through the synthesis of a "control certificate". Control certificates include control barrier and Lyapunov functions, which represent control strategies, and…
Verified controller synthesis uses world models that comprise all potential behaviours of humans, robots, further equipment, and the controller to be synthesised. A world model enables quantitative risk assessment, for example, by…
This paper presents a Directed Controller Synthesis (DCS) technique for discrete event systems. The DCS method explores the solution space for reactive controllers guided by a domain-independent heuristic. The heuristic is derived from an…
In order to be effective partners for humans, robots must become increasingly comfortable with making contact with their environment. Unfortunately, it is hard for robots to distinguish between ``just enough'' and ``too much'' force: some…
This paper presents a trajectory generation method for contact-constrained robotic systems such as manipulators and legged robots. Contact-constrained systems are affected by the interaction forces between the robot and the environment. In…