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Reinforcement learning (RL) has become the de facto method for achieving locomotion on humanoid robots in practice, yet stability analysis of the corresponding control policies is lacking. Recent work has attempted to merge control…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2026-05-07 Zachary Olkin , William D. Compton , Aaron D. Ames

Achieving safe autonomous navigation systems is critical for deploying robots in dynamic and uncertain real-world environments. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical control framework leveraging neural network verification techniques to…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2025-05-01 Luca Marzari , Francesco Trotti , Enrico Marchesini , Alessandro Farinelli

Adaptive Control Lyapunov Functions (aCLFs) were introduced 20 years ago, and provided a Lyapunov-based methodology for stabilizing systems with parameter uncertainty. The goal of this paper is to revisit this classic formulation in the…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2020-11-20 Andrew J. Taylor , Aaron D. Ames

In this paper, we propose a safety-critical controller based on time-varying control barrier functions (CBFs) for a robot with an unicycle model in the continuous-time domain to achieve navigation and dynamic collision avoidance. Unlike…

Robotics · Computer Science 2023-07-18 Jihao Huang , Zhitao Liu , Jun Zeng , Xuemin Chi , Hongye Su

Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) provide an elegant framework for constraining nonlinear control system dynamics to remain within an invariant subset of a designated safe set. However, identifying a CBF that balances performance-by…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-11-05 Lakshmideepakreddy Manda , Shaoru Chen , Mahyar Fazlyab

Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) have become powerful tools for ensuring safety in nonlinear systems. However, finding valid CBFs that guarantee persistent safety and feasibility remains an open challenge, especially in systems with input…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-03-05 Taekyung Kim , Robin Inho Kee , Dimitra Panagou

We present a safety-critical controller for the problem of stabilization for force-controlled nonholonomic mobile robots. The proposed control law is based on the constructions of control Lyapunov functions (CLFs) and control barrier…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2024-12-04 Tianyu Han , Bo Wang

Reinforcement learning (RL), while powerful and expressive, can often prioritize performance at the expense of safety. Yet safety violations can lead to catastrophic outcomes in real-world deployments. Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) offer…

Robotics · Computer Science 2026-03-19 Lizhi Yang , Blake Werner , Massimiliano de Sa , Aaron D. Ames

Ensuring liveness and safety of autonomous and cyber-physical systems remains a fundamental challenge, particularly when multiple safety constraints are present. This letter advances the theoretical foundations of safety-filter Quadratic…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-03-24 Matheus F. Reis , José P. Carvalho , A. Pedro Aguiar

This paper considers enforcing safety and stability of dynamical systems in the presence of model uncertainty. Safety and stability constraints may be specified using a control barrier function (CBF) and a control Lyapunov function (CLF),…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-03-17 Kehan Long , Yinzhuang Yi , Jorge Cortes , Nikolay Atanasov

Safety stands as the primary obstacle preventing the widespread adoption of learning-based robotic systems in our daily lives. While reinforcement learning (RL) shows promise as an effective robot learning paradigm, conventional RL…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-05-27 Maeva Guerrier , Karthik Soma , Hassan Fouad , Giovanni Beltrame

Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms have found limited success beyond simulated applications, and one main reason is the absence of safety guarantees during the learning process. Real world systems would realistically fail or break…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-03-22 Richard Cheng , Gabor Orosz , Richard M. Murray , Joel W. Burdick

This paper proposes a safety-critical control design approach for nonlinear control affine systems in the presence of matched and unmatched uncertainties. Our constructive framework couples control barrier function (CBF) theory with a new…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-02-03 Ersin Das , Joel W. Burdick

Control Lyapunov functions (CLFs) and Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) have been used to develop provably safe controllers by means of quadratic programs (QPs). This framework guarantees safety in the form of trajectory invariance with…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2026-03-17 Matheus F. Reis , A. Pedro Aguiar

In this paper we address the problem of control Lyapunov-barrier function (CLBF)-based safe stabilization for a class of nonlinear control-affine systems. A difficulty may arise for the case when a constraint has the relative degree larger…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-09-19 Haechan Pyon , Gyunghoon Park

Designing control inputs that satisfy safety requirements is crucial in safety-critical nonlinear control, and this task becomes particularly challenging when full-state measurements are unavailable. In this work, we address the problem of…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2024-03-15 Shiqing Wei , Prashanth Krishnamurthy , Farshad Khorrami

Robust control barrier functions (CBFs) provide a principled mechanism for smooth safety enforcement under worst-case disturbances. However, existing approaches typically rely on explicit, closed-form structure in the dynamics (e.g.,…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2026-04-16 Donggeon David Oh , Duy P. Nguyen , Haimin Hu , Jaime Fernández Fisac

The safety of training task policies and their subsequent application using reinforcement learning (RL) methods has become a focal point in the field of safe RL. A central challenge in this area remains the establishment of theoretical…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-05-02 Chenggang Wang , Xinyi Wang , Yutong Dong , Lei Song , Xinping Guan

We present a true-dynamics-agnostic, statistically rigorous framework for establishing exponential stability and safety guarantees of closed-loop, data-driven nonlinear control. Central to our approach is the novel concept of conformal…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-06-12 Ting-Wei Hsu , Hiroyasu Tsukamoto

This paper studies safety and feasibility guarantees for systems with tight control bounds. It has been shown that stabilizing an affine control system while optimizing a quadratic cost and satisfying state and control constraints can be…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-09-10 Shuo Liu , Wei Xiao , Calin A. Belta