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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…
One of the most difficult parts of motion planning in configuration space is ensuring a trajectory does not collide with task-space obstacles in the environment. Generating regions that are convex and collision free in configuration space…
Recent investments in cislunar applications open new frontiers for space missions within highly nonlinear dynamical regimes. In this paper, we propose a method based on Sequential Convex Programming (SCP) to loiter around a given target…
Soft robots were introduced in large part to enable safe, adaptive interaction with the environment, and this interaction relies fundamentally on contact. However, modeling and planning contact-rich interactions for soft robots remain…
Stochastic convex optimization problems with nonlinear functional constraints are ubiquitous in signal processing applications including constrained least-squares, set-membership adaptive filtering, and trajectory optimization under…
This paper investigates the problem of efficient computation of physically consistent multi-contact behaviors. Recent work showed that under mild assumptions, the problem could be decomposed into simpler kinematic and centroidal dynamic…
Semi-Infinite Programming (SIP) has emerged as a powerful framework for modeling problems with infinite constraints, however, its theoretical development in the context of nonconvex and large-scale optimization remains limited. In this…
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…
Applying intelligent robot arms in dynamic uncertain environments (i.e., flexible production lines) remains challenging, which requires efficient algorithms for real time trajectory generation. The motion planning problem for robot…
Sequential Convex Programming (SCP) has recently gained significant popularity as an effective method for solving optimal control problems and has been successfully applied in several different domains. However, the theoretical analysis of…
Contact-implicit trajectory optimization (CITO) enables the automatic discovery of contact sequences, but most methods rely on fine time discretization to capture all contact events accurately, which increases problem size and runtime while…
Designing trajectories for manipulation through contact is challenging as it requires reasoning of object \& robot trajectories as well as complex contact sequences simultaneously. In this paper, we present a novel framework for…
We present a convex formulation of compliant frictional contact and a robust, performant method to solve it in practice. By analytically eliminating contact constraints, we obtain an unconstrained convex problem. Our solver has proven…
Abstract. The Set Intersection Problem (SIP) is the problem of finding a point in the intersection of convex sets. This problem is typically solved by the method of alternating projections. To accelerate the convergence, the idea of using…
Contact-based motion planning for manipulation, object exploration or balancing often requires finding sequences of fixed and sliding contacts and planning the transition from one contact in the environment to another. However, most…
We present a semi-infinite program (SIP) solver for trajectory optimizations of general articulated robots. These problems are more challenging than standard Nonlinear Program (NLP) by involving an infinite number of non-convex, collision…
A computationally efficient method to solve non-convex programming problems with linear equality constraints is presented. The proposed method is based on a recursively feasible and descending sequential convex programming procedure proven…
In many learning settings, it is beneficial to augment the main features with pairwise interactions. Such interaction models can be often enhanced by performing variable selection under the so-called strong hierarchy constraint: an…
Sequential Convex Programming (SCP) has recently gained popularity as a tool for trajectory optimization due to its sound theoretical properties and practical performance. Yet, most SCP-based methods for trajectory optimization are…
This paper presents a novel contact-implicit trajectory optimization method using an analytically solvable contact model to enable planning of interactions with hard, soft, and slippery environments. Specifically, we propose a novel contact…