English
Related papers

Related papers: Learning to Nudge: A Scalable Barrier Function Fra…

200 papers

Navigating robots safely and efficiently in crowded and complex environments remains a significant challenge. However, due to the dynamic and intricate nature of these settings, planning efficient and collision-free paths for robots to…

Robotics · Computer Science 2024-10-22 Zhuanglei Wen , Mingze Dong , Xiai Chen

Robotic fabric manipulation is challenging due to the infinite dimensional configuration space, self-occlusion, and complex dynamics of fabrics. There has been significant prior work on learning policies for specific deformable manipulation…

Whole-body manipulation (WBM) for humanoid robots presents a promising approach for executing embracing tasks involving bulky objects, where traditional grasping relying on end-effectors only remains limited in such scenarios due to…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-09-18 Chunxin Zheng , Kai Chen , Zhihai Bi , Yulin Li , Liang Pan , Jinni Zhou , Haoang Li , Jun Ma

We consider safety-critical multi-agent systems with distributed control architectures and potentially varying network topologies. While learning-based distributed control enables scalability and high performance, a lack of formal safety…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2026-04-01 Jonas Ohnemus , Alexandre Didier , Ahmed Aboudonia , Andrea Carron , Melanie N. Zeilinger

Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) provide an elegant framework for constraining nonlinear control system dynamics to remain within an invariant subset of a designated safe set. However, identifying a CBF that balances performance-by…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-11-05 Lakshmideepakreddy Manda , Shaoru Chen , Mahyar Fazlyab

To enable flexible, high-throughput automation in settings where people and robots share workspaces, collaborative robotic cells must reconcile stringent safety guarantees with the need for responsive and effective behavior. A dynamic…

This work presents a unified approach for collision avoidance using Collision-Cone Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) in both ground (UGV) and aerial (UAV) unmanned vehicles. We propose a novel CBF formulation inspired by collision cones, to…

Frictional contact has been extensively studied as the core underlying behavior of legged locomotion and manipulation, and its nearly-discontinuous nature makes planning and control difficult even when an accurate model of the robot is…

Robotics · Computer Science 2021-03-30 Mihir Parmar , Mathew Halm , Michael Posa

In recent years, industrial robots have been installed in various industries to handle advanced manufacturing and high precision tasks. However, further integration of industrial robots is hampered by their limited flexibility, adaptability…

Robotics · Computer Science 2020-10-27 Oren Spector , Miriam Zacksenhouse

Guiding the visually impaired in complex environments requires real-time two-way interaction and safety assurance. We propose a Force-Compliance Model Predictive Control (FC-MPC) and Robot-User Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) for…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-08-06 Zehua Fan , Feng Gao , Zhijun Chen , Yunpeng Yin , Limin Yang , Qingxing Xi , En Yang , Xuefeng Luo

Robots often face manipulation tasks in environments where vision is inadequate due to clutter, occlusions, or poor lighting--for example, reaching a shutoff valve at the back of a sink cabinet or locating a light switch above a crowded…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-10-24 Muhammad Suhail Saleem , Lai Yuan , Maxim Likhachev

This paper presents a time-varying soft-maximum composite control barrier function (CBF) that can be used to ensure safety in an a priori unknown environment, where local perception information regarding the safe set is periodically…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2024-03-26 Amirsaeid Safari , Jesse B. Hoagg

Soft robot manipulators have the potential for deployment in delicate environments to perform complex manipulation tasks. However, existing obstacle detection and avoidance methods do not consider limits on the forces that manipulators may…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-11-10 Akua K. Dickson , Juan C. Pacheco Garcia , Andrew P. Sabelhaus

Achieving safe autonomous navigation systems is critical for deploying robots in dynamic and uncertain real-world environments. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical control framework leveraging neural network verification techniques to…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2025-05-01 Luca Marzari , Francesco Trotti , Enrico Marchesini , Alessandro Farinelli

This paper presents a safety-guaranteed, runtime-efficient imitation learning framework for spacecraft close proximity control. We leverage Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) for safety certificates and Control Lyapunov Functions (CLFs) for…

Robotics · Computer Science 2026-03-20 Alexander Meinert , Niklas Baldauf , Peter Stadler , Alen Turnwald

In this paper we present the implementation of a Control Barrier Function (CBF) using a quadratic program (QP) formulation that provides obstacle avoidance for a robotic manipulator arm system. CBF is a control technique that has emerged…

Robotics · Computer Science 2022-11-22 Stephen McIlvanna , Nhat Nguyen Minh , Yuzhu Sun , Mien Van , Wasif Naeem

Obstacle avoidance between polytopes is a challenging topic for optimal control and optimization-based trajectory planning problems. Existing work either solves this problem through mixed-integer optimization, relying on simplification of…

Robotics · Computer Science 2022-06-01 Akshay Thirugnanam , Jun Zeng , Koushil Sreenath

Control barrier functions (CBF) are widely explored to enforce the safety-critical constraints on nonlinear systems recently. There are many researchers incorporating the control barrier functions into path planning algorithms to find a…

Robotics · Computer Science 2024-10-02 Leonas Liu , Yingfan Zhang , Larry Zhang , Mehbi Kermanshabi

Autonomous robots should operate in real-world dynamic environments and collaborate with humans in tight spaces. A key component for allowing robots to leave structured lab and manufacturing settings is their ability to evaluate online and…

Robotics · Computer Science 2022-08-01 Puze Liu , Kuo Zhang , Davide Tateo , Snehal Jauhri , Jan Peters , Georgia Chalvatzaki

Autonomous spacecraft inspection and docking missions require controllers that can guarantee safety under thrust constraints and uncertainty. Input-constrained control barrier functions (ICCBFs) provide a framework for safety certification…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2026-02-10 Minduli C. Wijayatunga , Richard Linares , Roberto Armellin