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In this paper, we propose a new convergent conic programming hierarchy of relaxations involving both semi-definite cone and second-order cone constraints for solving nonconvex polynomial optimization problems to global optimality. The…
Many problems in modern robotics can be addressed by modeling them as bilevel optimization problems. In this work, we leverage augmented Lagrangian methods and recent advances in automatic differentiation to develop a general-purpose…
We develop a second order primal-dual method for optimization problems in which the objective function is given by the sum of a strongly convex twice differentiable term and a possibly nondifferentiable convex regularizer. After introducing…
In this note we aim at putting more emphasis on the fact that trying to solve non-convex optimization problems with coordinate-descent iterative linear matrix inequality algorithms leads to suboptimal solutions, and put forward other…
Constraint answer set programming or CASP, for short, is a hybrid approach in automated reasoning putting together the advances of distinct research areas such as answer set programming, constraint processing, and satisfiability modulo…
In this work, we focus on separable convex optimization problems with linear and box constraints and compute the solution in closed-form as a function of some Lagrange multipliers that can be easily computed in a finite number of…
In this paper, we present a task space-based local motion planner that incorporates collision avoidance and constraints on end-effector motion during the execution of a task. Our key technical contribution is the development of a novel…
Online planning of collision-free trajectories is a fundamental task for robotics and self-driving car applications. This paper revisits collision avoidance between ellipsoidal objects using differentiable constraints. Two ellipsoids do not…
In this paper, we study the problem of escaping from saddle points in smooth nonconvex optimization problems subject to a convex set $\mathcal{C}$. We propose a generic framework that yields convergence to a second-order stationary point of…
In many mobile robotics scenarios, such as drone racing, the goal is to generate a trajectory that passes through multiple waypoints in minimal time. This problem is referred to as time-optimal planning. State-of-the-art approaches either…
This paper proposes a new method for differentiating through optimal trajectories arising from non-convex, constrained discrete-time optimal control (COC) problems using the implicit function theorem (IFT). Previous works solve a…
In this paper, we consider the nonlinear constrained optimization problem (NCP) with constraint set $\{x \in \mathcal{X}: c(x) = 0\}$, where $\mathcal{X}$ is a closed convex subset of $\mathbb{R}^n$. We propose an exact penalty approach,…
This paper presents two new techniques relating to inexact solution of subproblems in augmented Lagrangian methods for convex programming. The first involves combining a relative error criterion for solution of the subproblems with over- or…
We view a conic optimization problem that has a unique solution as a map from its data to its solution. If sufficient regularity conditions hold at a solution point, namely that the implicit function theorem applies to the normalized…
Combinatorial optimization serves as an essential part in many modern industrial applications. A great number of the problems are offline setting due to safety and/or cost issues. While simulation-based approaches appear difficult to…
We present a unifying framework for generating extended formulations for the polyhedral outer approximations used in algorithms for mixed-integer convex programming (MICP). Extended formulations lead to fewer iterations of outer…
Using convex combination and linesearch techniques, we introduce a novel primal-dual algorithm for solving structured convex-concave saddle point problems with a generic smooth nonbilinear coupling term. Our adaptive linesearch strategy…
Optimal sampling based motion planning and trajectory optimization are two competing frameworks to generate optimal motion plans. Both frameworks have complementary properties: Sampling based planners are typically slow to converge, but…
In a Hilbert setting, for convex differentiable optimization, we develop a general framework for adaptive accelerated gradient methods. They are based on damped inertial dynamics where the coefficients are designed in a closed-loop way.…
Non-convex constrained optimizations are ubiquitous in robotic applications such as multi-agent navigation, UAV trajectory optimization, and soft robot simulation. For this problem class, conventional optimizers suffer from small step sizes…