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We consider safety-critical multi-agent systems with distributed control architectures and potentially varying network topologies. While learning-based distributed control enables scalability and high performance, a lack of formal safety…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2026-04-01 Jonas Ohnemus , Alexandre Didier , Ahmed Aboudonia , Andrea Carron , Melanie N. Zeilinger

The control barrier function (CBF) has become a fundamental tool in safety-critical systems design since its invention. Typically, the quadratic optimization framework is employed to accommodate CBFs, control Lyapunov functions (CLFs),…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-03-17 Junjun Xie , Liang Hu , Jiahu Qin , Jun Yang , Huijun Gao

We study the prescribed-time reach-avoid (PT-RA) control problem for nonlinear systems with unknown dynamics operating in environments with moving obstacles. Unlike robust or learning based Control Barrier Function (CBF) methods, the…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2026-05-08 Shubham Sawarkar , Pushpak Jagtap

This paper develops a model-based reinforcement learning (MBRL) framework for learning online the value function of an infinite-horizon optimal control problem while obeying safety constraints expressed as control barrier functions (CBFs).…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-11-10 Max H. Cohen , Calin Belta

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

In safety-critical control, managing safety constraints with high relative degrees and uncertain obstacle dynamics pose significant challenges in guaranteeing safety performance. Robust Control Barrier Functions (RCBFs) offer a potential…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-12-06 Kwang Hak Kim , Mamadou Diagne , Miroslav Krstić

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

We propose a design method for a robust safety filter based on Input Constrained Control Barrier Functions (ICCBF) for car-like robots moving in complex environments. A robust ICCBF that can be efficiently implemented is obtained by…

Robotics · Computer Science 2024-02-21 Sven Brüggemann , Dominic Nightingale , Jack Silberman , Maurício de Oliveira

Learning-based methods for constructing control barrier functions (CBFs) are gaining popularity for ensuring safe robot control. A major limitation of existing methods is their reliance on extensive sampling over the state space or online…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-03-17 Hongzhan Yu , Seth Farrell , Ryo Yoshimitsu , Zhizhen Qin , Henrik I. Christensen , Sicun Gao

This paper presents a new approach for guaranteed safety subject to input constraints (e.g., actuator limits) using a composition of multiple control barrier functions (CBFs). First, we present a method for constructing a single CBF from…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2024-09-10 Pedram Rabiee , Jesse B. Hoagg

With the increasing emphasis on the safe autonomy for robots, model-based safe control approaches such as Control Barrier Functions have been extensively studied to ensure guaranteed safety during inter-robot interactions. In this paper, we…

Robotics · Computer Science 2022-02-22 Yiwei Lyu , Wenhao Luo , John M. Dolan

We present a novel method for designing higher-order Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) that guarantee convergence to a safe set within a user-specified finite. Traditional Higher Order CBFs (HOCBFs) ensure asymptotic safety but lack…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-07-21 Janani S K , Shishir Kolathaya

This paper studies control synthesis for a general class of nonlinear, control-affine dynamical systems under additive disturbances and state-estimation errors. We enforce forward invariance of static and dynamic safe sets and convergence…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-04-14 Kunal Garg , Dimitra Panagou

Control barrier functions (CBFs) are a powerful tool for the constrained control of nonlinear systems; however, the majority of results in the literature focus on systems subject to a single CBF constraint, making it challenging to…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-09-05 Max H. Cohen , Eugene Lavretsky , Aaron D. Ames

Control barrier functions (CBFs) provide a simple yet effective way for safe control synthesis. Recently, work has been done using differentiable optimization (diffOpt) based methods to systematically construct CBFs for static obstacle…

Robotics · Computer Science 2024-01-25 Bolun Dai , Rooholla Khorrambakht , Prashanth Krishnamurthy , Farshad Khorrami

Control Barrier functions (CBFs) have attracted extensive attention for designing safe controllers for their deployment in real-world safety-critical systems. However, the perception of the surrounding environment is often subject to…

Robotics · Computer Science 2023-09-19 Alaa Eddine Chriat , Chuangchuang Sun

Safety filters constructed from control barrier functions (CBFs) are commonly appended to pre-trained neural network controllers to enforce safety requirements. However, this decoupled design with hand-tuned, fixed CBF parameters often…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2026-05-27 Yang Zhao , Jungeun Lee , Jeong hwan Jeon , Sze Zheng Yong

This paper presents a safety-critical control framework for an ego agent moving among other agents. The approach infers the dynamics of the other agents, and incorporates the inferred quantities into the design of control barrier function…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2024-08-05 Junhui Zhang , Sze Zheng Yong , Dimitra Panagou

Safety filters leveraging control barrier functions (CBFs) are highly effective for enforcing safe behavior on complex systems. It is often easier to synthesize CBFs for a Reduced order Model (RoM), and track the resulting safe behavior on…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2024-12-09 William D. Compton , Max H. Cohen , Aaron D. Ames

Control barrier functions provide a powerful means for synthesizing safety filters that ensure safety framed as forward set invariance. Key to CBFs' effectiveness is the simple inequality on the system dynamics: $\dot{h} \geq - \alpha(h)$.…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-07-18 Pio Ong , Max H. Cohen , Tamas G. Molnar , Aaron D. Ames