Related papers: B*: Efficient and Optimal Base Placement for Fixed…
Joint optimization of poses and features has been extensively studied and demonstrated to yield more accurate results in feature-based SLAM problems. However, research on jointly optimizing poses and non-feature-based maps remains limited.…
This article presents a new method for computing guaranteed convex and concave relaxations of nonlinear stochastic optimal control problems with final-time expected-value cost functions. This method is motivated by similar methods for…
Humanoid robots have the potential capability to perform a diverse range of manipulation tasks, but this is based on a robust and precise standing controller. Existing methods are either ill-suited to precisely control high-dimensional…
Efficient motion planning algorithms are essential in robotics. Optimizing essential parameters, such as batch size and nearest neighbor selection in sampling-based methods, can enhance performance in the planning process. However, existing…
Motion planning and control are two core components of the robotic systems autonomy stack. The standard approach to combine these methodologies comprises an offline/open-loop stage, planning, that designs a feasible and safe trajectory to…
Recent progress in contact-rich robotic manipulation has been striking, yet most deployed systems remain confined to simple, scripted routines. One of the key barriers is the lack of motion planning algorithms that can provide verifiable…
Black-box optimization (BBO) addresses problems where objectives are accessible only through costly queries without gradients or explicit structure. Classical derivative-free methods -- line search, direct search, and model-based solvers…
In this paper, we present a method to initialize at a feasible point and unfailingly solve a non-convex optimization problem in which a set-point motion is planned for a multi-link manipulator under state and control constraints. We…
The current state-of-the-art gradient-based optimisation frameworks are able to produce impressive dynamic manoeuvres such as linear and rotational jumps. However, these methods, which optimise over the full rigid-body dynamics of the…
This paper considers an optimization problem for a dynamical system whose evolution depends on a collection of binary decision variables. We develop scalable approximation algorithms with provable suboptimality bounds to provide…
The pursuit of universal black-box optimization (BBO) algorithms is a longstanding goal. However, unlike domains such as language or vision, where scaling structured data has driven generalization, progress in offline BBO remains hindered…
Mobile manipulators have been employed in many applications that are traditionally performed by either multiple fixed-base robots or a large robotic system. This capability is enabled by the mobility of the mobile base. However, the mobile…
Zero-order optimization has recently received significant attention for designing optimal trajectories and policies for robotic systems. However, most existing methods (e.g., MPPI, CEM, and CMA-ES) are local in nature, as they rely on…
Reconfigurable battery systems (RBSs) are emerging as a promising solution to improving fault tolerance, charge and thermal balance, energy delivery, etc. To optimize these performance metrics of RBSs, high-dimensional nonlinear integer…
This paper presents a novel method for reformulating non-differentiable collision avoidance constraints into smooth nonlinear constraints using strong duality of convex optimization. We focus on a controlled object whose goal is to avoid…
This article considers nonconvex global optimization problems subject to uncertainties described by continuous random variables. Such problems arise in chemical process design, renewable energy systems, stochastic model predictive control,…
Robotic manipulators are essential for future autonomous systems, yet limited trust in their autonomy has confined them to rigid, task-specific systems. The intricate configuration space of manipulators, coupled with the challenges of…
Mobile manipulators consist of a mobile platform equipped with one or more robot arms and are of interest for a wide array of challenging tasks because of their extended workspace and dexterity. Typically, mobile manipulators are deployed…
Motion planning is the core problem to solve for developing any application involving an autonomous mobile robot. The fundamental motion planning problem involves generating a trajectory for a robot for point-to-point navigation while…
Intelligent interaction with the real world requires robotic agents to jointly reason over high-level plans and low-level controls. Task and motion planning (TAMP) addresses this by combining symbolic planning and continuous trajectory…