Related papers: Simultaneous Trajectory Optimization and Contact S…
This article introduces a numerical algorithm that serves as a preliminary step toward solving continuous-time model predictive control (MPC) problems directly without explicit time-discretization. The chief ingredients of the underlying…
Legged robots have become capable of performing highly dynamic maneuvers in the past few years. However, agile locomotion in highly constrained environments such as stepping stones is still a challenge. In this paper, we propose a…
We present a novel method for global motion planning of robotic systems that interact with the environment through contacts. Our method directly handles the hybrid nature of such tasks using tools from convex optimization. We formulate the…
To achieve general-purpose dexterous manipulation, robots must rapidly devise and execute contact-rich behaviors. Existing model-based controllers are incapable of globally optimizing in real-time over the exponential number of possible…
Unsignalized intersections are typically considered as one of the most representative and challenging scenarios for self-driving vehicles. To tackle autonomous driving problems in such scenarios, this paper proposes a curriculum proximal…
Sequential Convex Programming (SCP) has recently seen a surge of interest as a tool for trajectory optimization. However, most available methods lack rigorous performance guarantees and they are often tailored to specific optimal control…
A novel method called mixed variable system Monte Carlo tree search (MVSMCTS) formulation is presented for optimization problems considering various types of variables with single and mixed continuous-discrete system. This method utilizes a…
What is a good local description of contact dynamics for contact-rich manipulation, and where can we trust this local description? While many approaches often rely on the Taylor approximation of dynamics with an ellipsoidal trust region, we…
The idea of iterative process optimization based on collected output measurements, or "real-time optimization" (RTO), has gained much prominence in recent decades, with many RTO algorithms being proposed, researched, and developed. While…
Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) is particularly adapted to domains where the potential actions can be represented as a tree of sequential decisions. For an effective action selection, MCTS performs many simulations to build a reliable tree…
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…
Direct collocation methods are powerful tools to solve trajectory optimization problems in robotics. While their resulting trajectories tend to be dynamically accurate, they may also present large kinematic errors in the case of constrained…
Contact is at the core of robotic manipulation. At times, it is desired (e.g. manipulation and grasping), and at times, it is harmful (e.g. when avoiding obstacles). However, traditional path planning algorithms focus solely on…
Topology optimization is a critical task in engineering design, where the goal is to optimally distribute material in a given space for maximum performance. We introduce Neural Implicit Topology Optimization (NITO), a novel approach to…
Gradient-based trajectory optimization (GTO) has gained wide popularity for quadrotor trajectory replanning. However, it suffers from local minima, which is not only fatal to safety but also unfavorable for smooth navigation. In this paper,…
In pursuit of the time-optimal path tracking (TOPT) trajectory of a robot manipulator along a preset path, a beforehand identified robot dynamic model is usually used to obtain the required optimal trajectory for perfect tracking. However,…
Compact wearable mapping system (WMS) has gained significant attention due to their convenience in various applications. Specifically, it provides an efficient way to collect prior maps for 3D structure inspection and robot-based "last-mile…
Efficient trajectory optimization is essential for avoiding collisions in unstructured environments, but it remains challenging to have both speed and quality in the solutions. One reason is that second-order optimality requires calculating…
Although Trajectory Optimization (TO) is one of the most powerful motion planning tools, it suffers from expensive computational complexity as a time horizon increases in cluttered environments. It can also fail to converge to a globally…
Generating obstacle-free trajectories for robotic manipulators in unstructured and cluttered environments remains a significant challenge. Existing motion planning methods often require additional computational effort to generate the final…