Related papers: Locally Optimal Solutions to Constraint Displaceme…
This paper presents a novel convex optimization-based method for finding the globally optimal solutions of a class of mixed-integer non-convex optimal control problems. We consider problems with non-convex constraints that restrict the…
Many exciting robotic applications require multiple robots with many degrees of freedom, such as manipulators, to coordinate their motion in a shared workspace. Discovering high-quality paths in such scenarios can be achieved, in principle,…
This paper proposes a preliminary work on a Conditional Task and Motion Planning algorithm able to find a plan that minimizes robot efforts while solving assigned tasks. Unlike most of the existing approaches that replan a path only when it…
We present progress on the problem of reconfiguring a 2D arrangement of building material by a cooperative group of robots. These robots must avoid collisions, deadlocks, and are subjected to the constraint of maintaining connectivity of…
Motion planning under differential constraints is a classic problem in robotics. To date, the state of the art is represented by sampling-based techniques, with the Rapidly-exploring Random Tree algorithm as a leading example. Yet, the…
The task-specific optimization of robotic systems has long been divided into the optimization of the robot and the optimization of the environment. In this letter, we argue that these two problems are interdependent and should be treated as…
Recent road trials have shown that guaranteeing the safety of driving decisions is essential for the wider adoption of autonomous vehicle technology. One promising direction is to pose safety requirements as planning constraints in…
Given two points in the plane, and a set of "obstacles" given as curves through the plane with assigned weights, we consider the point-separation problem, which asks for the minimum-weight subset of the obstacles separating the two points.…
An emerging class of trajectory optimization methods enforces collision avoidance by jointly optimizing the robot's configuration and a separating hyperplane. However, as linear separators only apply to convex sets, these methods require…
This paper addresses the problem of the communication of optimally compressed information for mobile robot path-planning. In this context, mobile robots compress their current local maps to assist another robot in reaching a target in an…
Building structures can allow a robot to surmount large obstacles, expanding the set of areas it can reach. This paper presents a planning algorithm to automatically determine what structures a construction-capable robot must build in order…
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…
Convex optimization is crucial in controlling legged robots, where stability and optimal control are vital. Many control problems can be formulated as convex optimization problems, with a convex cost function and constraints capturing…
Trajectory optimization methods for motion planning attempt to generate trajectories that minimize a suitable objective function. Such methods efficiently find solutions even for high degree-of-freedom robots. However, a globally optimal…
We introduce a class of first-order methods for smooth constrained optimization that are based on an analogy to non-smooth dynamical systems. Two distinctive features of our approach are that (i) projections or optimizations over the entire…
Optimal path planning is prone to convergence to local, rather than global, optima. This is often the case for mobile manipulators due to nonconvexities induced by obstacles, robot kinematics and constraints. This paper focuses on planning…
We aim to enable a mobile robot to navigate through environments with dense crowds, e.g., shopping malls, canteens, train stations, or airport terminals. In these challenging environments, existing approaches suffer from two common…
This paper introduces a local planner that synergizes the decision making and trajectory planning modules towards autonomous driving. The decision making and trajectory planning tasks are jointly formulated as a nonlinear programming…
This paper aims to solve the coordination of a team of robots traversing a route in the presence of adversaries with random positions. Our goal is to minimize the overall cost of the team, which is determined by (i) the accumulated risk…
Path planning is a classic problem for autonomous robots. To ensure safe and efficient point-to-point navigation an appropriate algorithm should be chosen keeping the robot's dimensions and its classification in mind. Autonomous robots use…