Related papers: Contact-Implicit Trajectory Optimization for Dynam…
We describe a framework for changing-contact robot manipulation tasks that require the robot to make and break contacts with objects and surfaces. The discontinuous interaction dynamics of such tasks make it difficult to construct and use a…
Effective close-proximity human-robot interaction (CP-HRI) requires robots to be able to both efficiently perform tasks as well as adapt to human behavior and preferences. However, this ability is mediated by many, sometimes competing,…
This paper presents a spatio-temporal inverse optimal control framework for understanding interactions in multi-agent systems (MAS). We employ a graph representation approach and model the dynamics of interactions between agents as…
Contact adaption is an essential capability when manipulating objects. Two key contact modes of non-prehensile manipulation are sticking and sliding. This paper presents a Trajectory Optimization (TO) method formulated as a Mathematical…
Magnetic microrobots can be navigated by an external magnetic field to autonomously move within living organisms with complex and unstructured environments. Potential applications include drug delivery, diagnostics, and therapeutic…
Differentiable simulation enables gradients to be back-propagated through physics simulations. In this way, one can learn the dynamics and properties of a physics system by gradient-based optimization or embed the whole differentiable…
In this paper, we devise methods for the multi- objective control of humanoid robots, a.k.a. prioritized whole- body controllers, that achieve efficiency and robustness in the algorithmic computations. We use a form of whole-body…
Humanoid robots rely on multi-contact planners to navigate a diverse set of environments, including those that are unstructured and highly constrained. To synthesize stable multi-contact plans within a reasonable time frame, most planners…
Robots are finding new applications where physical interaction with a human is necessary: manufacturing, healthcare, and social tasks. Accordingly, the field of physical human-robot interaction (pHRI) has leveraged impedance control…
Optimal control of a mobile robot system is formulated. Multiobjective criteria of time and energy is employed. The optimal control problem is formulated as a nonlinear programming problem (NLP). The problem is solved using the direct…
We present a novel method for learning hybrid force/position control from demonstration. We learn a dynamic constraint frame aligned to the direction of desired force using Cartesian Dynamic Movement Primitives. In contrast to approaches…
Motion planning and control are crucial components of robotics applications like automated driving. Here, spatio-temporal hard constraints like system dynamics and safety boundaries (e.g., obstacles) restrict the robot's motions. Direct…
Motion planning involves determining a sequence of robot configurations to reach a desired pose, subject to movement and safety constraints. Traditional motion planning finds collision-free paths, but this is overly restrictive in clutter,…
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,…
In many human-in-the-loop robotic applications such as robot-assisted surgery and remote teleoperation, predicting the intended motion of the human operator may be useful for successful implementation of shared control, guidance virtual…
Contact-rich manipulation involves kinematic constraints on the task motion, typically with discrete transitions between these constraints during the task. Allowing the robot to detect and reason about these contact constraints can support…
In this paper we develop a numerical method to solve nonlinear optimal control problems with final-state constraints. Specifically, we extend the PRojection Operator based Netwon's method for Trajectory Optimization (PRONTO), which was…
A significant challenge in manipulation motion planning is to ensure agility in the face of unpredictable changes during task execution. This requires the identification and possible modification of suitable joint-space trajectories, since…
In this paper we provide optimal control based strategies to explore the dynamic capabilities of a single-track car model which includes tire models and longitudinal load transfer. Using an explicit formulation of the holonomic constraints…
It is doubtful that animals have perfect inverse models of their limbs (e.g., what muscle contraction must be applied to every joint to reach a particular location in space). However, in robot control, moving an arm's end-effector to a…