Related papers: Autonomous and Robust Orbit-keeping for Small Body…
Robotic space missions have long depended on automation, defined in the 2015 NASA Technology Roadmaps as "the automatically-controlled operation of an apparatus, process, or system using a pre-planned set of instructions (e.g., a command…
Recently, a practical and publicly accessible satellite standard called the SmallSat has amplified public involvement in orbital research. This allows for flexible and efficient deployments of impactful low-earth-orbit experiments that…
Accurate and autonomous transportation of micro-objects and biological cells can enable significant advances in a wide variety of research disciplines. Here, we present a novel, vision-based, model-free microrobotic pushing algorithm for…
Areostationary Mars orbit (AMO) satellites will play an important role in future expeditions to the Martian surface due to their strength as navigation and communication satellites. Perturbative forces experienced by an AMOR satellite will…
We study the navigation problem for a robot moving amidst static and dynamic obstacles and rely on a hierarchical approach to solve it. First, the reference trajectory is planned by the safe interval path planning algorithm that is capable…
This paper considers a group of mobile autonomous agents moving in Euclidean space with point mass dynamics. We introduce a set of coordination control laws that enable the group to generate the desired stable flocking motion. The control…
The task of inducing, via continuous static state-feedback control, an asymptotically stable heteroclinic orbit in a nonlinear control system is considered in this paper. The main motivation comes from the problem of ensuring convergence to…
Agile attitude maneuvering maximizes the utility of remote sensing satellite constellations. By taking into account a satellite's physical properties and its actuator specifications, we may leverage the full performance potential of the…
Compliance is a strong requirement for human-robot interactions. Soft-robots provide an opportunity to cover the lack of compliance in conventional actuation mechanisms, however, the control of them is very challenging given their intrinsic…
Optimal control problems are formulated and efficient computational procedures are proposed for attitude dynamics of a rigid body with symmetry. The rigid body is assumed to act under a gravitational potential and under a structured control…
This paper presents an integrated model-learning predictive control scheme for spacecraft orbit-attitude station-keeping in the vicinity of asteroids. The orbiting probe relies on optical and laser navigation while attitude measurements are…
Self-driving vehicles are a maturing technology with the potential to reshape mobility by enhancing the safety, accessibility, efficiency, and convenience of automotive transportation. Safety-critical tasks that must be executed by a…
Safe autonomous navigation in unknown environments is an important problem for mobile robots. This paper proposes techniques to learn the dynamics model of a mobile robot from trajectory data and synthesize a tracking controller with safety…
This work addresses the problem of path tracking control of a suspended load using a tilt-rotor UAV. The main challenge in controlling this kind of system arises from the dynamic behavior imposed by the load, which is usually coupled to the…
Robot arms with lighter weight can reduce unnecessary energy consumption which is desirable in robotic industry. However, lightweight arms undergo undesirable elastic deformation. In this paper, the planar motion of a lightweight flexible…
Recent studies of optimization methods and GNC of spacecraft near small bodies focusing on descent, landing, rendezvous, etc., with key safety constraints such as line-of-sight conic zones and soft landings have shown promising results;…
The stability of the orbital motion of two long cylindrical magnets interacting exclusively with magnetic forces is described. To carry out analytical studies a model of magnetically interacting symmetric tops [1] is used. The model was…
There are thousands of asteroids in near-Earth space and millions in the Main Belt. They are diverse in physical properties and composition and are time capsules of the early solar system. This makes them strategic locations for planetary…
We revisit the r\^{o}le of discreteness and chaos in the dynamics of self-gravitating systems by means of $N$-body simulations with active and frozen potentials, starting from spherically symmetric stationary states and considering the…
Recent investigations on the longitudinal and lateral control of wheeled autonomous vehicles are reported. Flatness-based techniques are first introduced via a simplified model. It depends on some physical parameters, like cornering…