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Robot control through contact is challenging as it requires reasoning over long horizons and discontinuous system dynamics. Highly dynamic tasks such as Air Hockey additionally require agile behavior, making the corresponding optimal…
This paper introduces a new algorithm for trajectory optimization, Decoupled Reduced-space and Adaptive Feasibility-repair Trajectory Optimization (DRAFTO). It first constructs a constrained objective that accounts for smoothness, safety,…
We consider the optimal control problem of a general nonlinear spatio-temporal system described by Partial Differential Equations (PDEs). Theory and algorithms for control of spatio-temporal systems are of rising interest among the…
Obstacle avoidance of polytopic obstacles by polytopic robots is a challenging problem in optimization-based control and trajectory planning. Many existing methods rely on smooth geometric approximations, such as hyperspheres or ellipsoids,…
Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is a promising outer-loop intelligence paradigm which can deploy problem solving strategies for complex tasks. Consequently, DRL has been utilized for several scientific applications, specifically in cases…
High-fidelity control of quantum systems is crucial for quantum information processing, but is often limited by perturbations from the environment and imperfections in the applied control fields. Here, we investigate the combination of…
Ground robots navigating in complex, dynamic environments must compute collision-free trajectories to avoid obstacles safely and efficiently. Nonconvex optimization is a popular method to compute a trajectory in real-time. However, these…
Trajectory optimization in multi-vehicle scenarios faces challenges due to its non-linear, non-convex properties and sensitivity to initial values, making interactions between vehicles difficult to control. In this paper, inspired by…
Efficient contact tracing and isolation is an effective strategy to control epidemics. It was used effectively during the Ebola epidemic and successfully implemented in several parts of the world during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. An…
This paper presents a novel method to control humanoid robot dynamic loco-manipulation with multiple contact modes via multi-contact Model Predictive Control (MPC) framework. The proposed framework includes a multi-contact dynamics model…
This paper aims to develop a hierarchical nonlinear control algorithm, based on model predictive control (MPC), quadratic programming (QP), and virtual constraints, to generate and stabilize locomotion patterns in a real-time manner for…
Practical deployments of coordinated fleets of mobile robots in different environments have revealed the benefits of maintaining small distances between robots, especially as they move at higher speeds. However, this is counter-intuitive in…
We propose a multi-scale approach for computing abstractions of dynamical systems, that incorporates both local and global optimal control to construct a goal-specific abstraction. For a local optimal control problem, we not only design the…
To operate with limited sensor horizons in unpredictable environments, autonomous robots use a receding-horizon strategy to plan trajectories, wherein they execute a short plan while creating the next plan. However, creating safe,…
We are interested in optimally controlling a discrete time dynamical system that can be influenced by exogenous uncertainties. This is generally called a Stochas-tic Optimal Control (SOC) problem and the Dynamic Programming (DP) principle…
Real Time Dynamic Programming (RTDP) is an online algorithm based on Dynamic Programming (DP) that acts by 1-step greedy planning. Unlike DP, RTDP does not require access to the entire state space, i.e., it explicitly handles the…
We develop a discrete-time optimal control framework for systems evolving on Lie groups. Our work generalizes the original Differential Dynamic Programming method, by employing a coordinate-free, Lie-theoretic approach for its derivation. A…
Effective contact-rich manipulation requires robots to synergistically leverage vision, force, and proprioception. However, Reinforcement Learning agents struggle to learn in such multisensory settings, especially amidst sensory noise and…
Reinforcement learning (RL) often necessitates a meticulous Markov Decision Process (MDP) design tailored to each task. This work aims to address this challenge by proposing a systematic approach to behavior synthesis and control for…
Connections between Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) training and optimal control theory has attracted considerable attention as a principled tool of algorithmic design. Differential Dynamic Programming (DDP) neural optimizer is a recently…