Many robot control scenarios involve assessing system robustness against a task specification. If either the controller or environment are composed of "black-box" components with unknown dynamics, we cannot rely on formal verification to assess our system. Assessing robustness via exhaustive testing is also often infeasible if the space of environments is large compared to experiment cost.
Given limited budget, we provide a method to choose experiment inputs which give greatest insight into system performance against a given specification across the domain. By combining smooth robustness metrics for signal temporal logic with techniques from adaptive experiment design, our method chooses the most informative experimental inputs by incrementally constructing a surrogate model of the specification robustness. This model then chooses the next experiment to be in an area where there is either high prediction error or uncertainty.
Our experiments show how this adaptive experimental design technique results in sample-efficient descriptions of system robustness. Further, we show how to use the model built via the experiment design process to assess the behaviour of a data-driven control system under domain shift.
Robotic control tasks are often first run in simulation for the purposes of verification, debugging and data augmentation. Many methods exist to specify what task a robot must complete, but few exist to specify what range of environments a user expects such tasks to be achieved in. ProbRobScene is a probabilistic specification language for describing robotic manipulation environments. Using the language, a user need only specify the relational constraints that must hold between objects in a scene. ProbRobScene will then automatically generate scenes which conform to this specification. By comb…
Active Force Control (AFC) is an important scheme for tackling high-precision robotic assembly. Classical force controllers are highly surface-dependent: the controller must be carefully tuned for each type of surface in contact, in order to avoid instabilities and to achieve a reasonable performance level. Here, we build upon the recently-developed Convex Controller Synthesis (CCS) to enable high-precision assembly across a wide range of surface stiffnesses without any surface-dependent tuning. Specifically, we demonstrate peg-in-hole assembly with 100 micron clearance, initial position uncer…
Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories（三菱电机研究实验室）
Insertion operations are a critical element of most robotic assembly operation, and peg-in-hole (PiH) insertion is one of the most widely studied tasks in the industrial and academic manipulation communities. PiH insertion is in fact an entire class of problems, where the complexity of the problem can depend on the type of misalignment and contact formation during an insertion attempt. In this paper, we present the design and analysis of adaptive compliance controllers which can be used in insertion-type assembly tasks, including learning-based compliance controllers which can be used for inse…
The 'infinite' passive degrees of freedom of soft robotic arms render their control especially challenging. In this paper, we leverage a previously developed model, which drawing equivalence of the soft arm to a series of universal joints, to design two closed-loop controllers: a configuration space controller for trajectory tracking and a task space controller for position control of the end effector. Extensive experiments and simulations on a four-segment soft arm attest to substantial improvement in terms of: a) superior tracking accuracy of the configuration space controller and b) reduced…
We propose a two-phase risk-averse architecture for controlling stochastic nonlinear robotic systems. We present Risk-Averse Nonlinear Steering RRT* (RANS-RRT*) as an RRT* variant that incorporates nonlinear dynamics by solving a nonlinear program (NLP) and accounts for risk by approximating the state distribution and performing a distributionally robust (DR) collision check to promote safe planning. The generated plan is used as a reference for a low-level tracking controller. We demonstrate three controllers: finite horizon linear quadratic regulator (LQR) with linearized dynamics around the…
University of Edinburgh（爱丁堡大学）；University of Sussex（萨塞克斯大学）；McGill University（麦吉尔大学）；Heriot-Watt University（赫瑞瓦特大学）
There is increasing interest in control frameworks capable of moving robots from industrial cages to unstructured environments and coexisting with humans. Despite significant improvement in some specific applications (e.g., medical robotics), there is still the need for a general control framework that improves interaction robustness and motion dynamics. Passive controllers show promising results in this direction; however, they often rely on virtual energy tanks that can guarantee passivity as long as they do not run out of energy. In this paper, a Fractal Attractor is proposed to implement a…
With the primary objective of human-robot interaction being to support humans' goals, there exists a need to formally synthesize robot controllers that can provide the desired service. Synthesis techniques have the benefit of providing formal guarantees for specification satisfaction. There is potential to apply these techniques for devising robot controllers whose specifications are coupled with human needs. This paper explores the use of formal methods to construct human-aware robot controllers to support the productivity requirements of humans. We tackle these types of scenarios via human w…
Arizona State University（亚利桑那州立大学）；University of Florida（佛罗里达大学）；University of Texas, Austin（德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校）
This paper investigates the controller synthesis problem for a multi-agent system (MAS) with intermittent communication. We adopt a relay-explorer scheme, where a mobile relay agent with absolute position sensors switches among a set of explorers with relative position sensors to provide intermittent state information. We model the MAS as a switched system where the explorers' dynamics can be either fully-actuated or underactuated. The objective of the explorers is to reach approximate consensus to a predetermined goal region. To guarantee the stability of the switched system and the approxima…
In this work, an all-in-one neuromorphic controller system with reduced latency and power consumption for a robotic arm is presented. Biological muscle movement consists of stretching and shrinking fibres via spike-commanded signals that come from motor neurons, which in turn are connected to a central pattern generator neural structure. In addition, biological systems are able to respond to diverse stimuli rather fast and efficiently, and this is based on the way information is coded within neural processes. As opposed to human-created encoding systems, neural ones use neurons and spikes to p…
University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校）；Siemens Corporate Technology（西门子公司技术部）；Technion（以色列理工学院）
Precise robotic manipulation skills are desirable in many industrial settings, reinforcement learning (RL) methods hold the promise of acquiring these skills autonomously. In this paper, we explicitly consider incorporating operational space force/torque information into reinforcement learning; this is motivated by humans heuristically mapping perceived forces to control actions, which results in completing high-precision tasks in a fairly easy manner. Our approach combines RL with force/torque information by incorporating a proper operational space force controller; where we also exploit diff…
This study proposes and examines a novel approach to generate peristaltic-like locomotion in a segmented origami robot. Specifically, we demonstrate the use of multi-stability embedded in origami skeleton to eliminate the need for multiple actuators or digital controllers to coordinate the complex robotic movements in peristaltic crawling. The crawling robot in this study consists of two serially connected bistable origami segments, each featuring a generalized Kresling design and a foldable anchoring mechanism. Mechanics analysis and experimental testing of this dual-segment module reveal a d…
Controllers for autonomous robotic systems can be specified using state machines. However, these are typically developed in an ad hoc manner without formal semantics, which makes it difficult to analyse the controller. Simulations are often used during the development, but a rigorous connection between the designed controller and the implementation is often overlooked. This paper presents a state-machine based notation, RoboChart, together with a tool to automatically create code from the state machines, establishing a rigorous connection between specification and implementation. In RoboChart,…
This paper describes the design of a web based multi agent design for a collision avoidance auto navigation biomimetic submarine for submarine hydroelectricity. The paper describes the nature of the map - topology interface for river bodies and the design of interactive agents for the control of the robotic submarine. The agents are migratory on the web and are designed in XML/html interface with both interactive capabilities and visibility on a map. The paper describes mathematically the user interface and the map definition languages used for the multi agent description
There are spatio-temporal rules that dictate how robots should operate in complex environments, e.g., road rules govern how (self-driving) vehicles should behave on the road. However, seamlessly incorporating such rules into a robot control policy remains challenging especially for real-time applications. In this work, given a desired spatio-temporal specification expressed in the Signal Temporal Logic (STL) language, we propose a semi-supervised controller synthesis technique that is attuned to human-like behaviors while satisfying desired STL specifications. Offline, we synthesize a trajecto…
Controlling soft continuum robotic arms is challenging due to their hyper-redundancy and dexterity. In this paper we demonstrate, for the first time, closed-loop control of the configuration space variables of a soft robotic arm, composed of independently controllable segments, using a Cosserat rod model of the robot and the distributed sensing and actuation capabilities of the segments. Our controller solves the inverse dynamic problem by simulating the Cosserat rod model in MATLAB using a computationally efficient numerical solution scheme, and it applies the computed control output to the a…
Monash University（莫纳什大学）；Queensland University of Technology（昆士兰科技大学）
Occlusions caused by a robot's own body is a common problem for closed-loop control methods employed in eye-to-hand camera setups. We propose an optimization-based reactive controller that minimizes self-occlusions while achieving a desired goal pose. The approach allows coordinated control between the robot's base, arm and head by encoding the line-of-sight visibility to the target as a soft constraint along with other task-related constraints, and solving for feasible joint and base velocities. The generalizability of the approach is demonstrated in simulated and real-world experiments, on r…
In this paper, we propose a framework for the control of mobile robots subject to temporal logic specifications using barrier functions. Complex task specifications can be conveniently encoded using linear temporal logic. In particular, we consider a fragment of linear temporal logic which encompasses a large class of motion planning specifications for a robotic system. Control barrier functions have recently emerged as a convenient tool to guarantee reachability and safety for a system. In addition, they can be encoded as affine constraints in a quadratic program. In this paper, a fully autom…
Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, University of Texas, Austin（奥斯汀德克萨斯大学奥登计算工程与科学研究所）；University of Florida（佛罗里达大学）
Privacy is an important concern in various multiagent systems in which data collected from the agents are sensitive. We propose a differentially private controller synthesis approach for multi-agent systems subject to high-level specifications expressed in metric temporal logic (MTL). We consider a setting where each agent sends data to a cloud (computing station) through a set of local hubs and the cloud is responsible for computing the control inputs of the agents. Specifically, each agent adds privacy noise (e.g., Gaussian noise) point-wise in time to its own outputs before sharing them wit…
Nowadays, with the continuous expansion of application scenarios of robotic arms, there are more and more scenarios where nonspecialist come into contact with robotic arms. However, in terms of robotic arm visual servoing, traditional Position-based Visual Servoing (PBVS) requires a lot of calibration work, which is challenging for the nonspecialist to cope with. To cope with this situation, Uncalibrated Image-Based Visual Servoing (UIBVS) frees people from tedious calibration work. This work applied a model-free adaptive control (MFAC) method which means that the parameters of controller are …
Cartesian impedance control is a type of motion control strategy for robots that improves safety in partially unknown environments by achieving a compliant behavior of the robot with respect to its external forces. This compliant robot behavior has the added benefit of allowing physical human guidance of the robot. In this paper, we propose a C++ implementation of compliance control valid for any torque-commanded robotic manipulator. The proposed controller implements Cartesian impedance control to track a desired end-effector pose. Additionally, joint impedance is projected in the nullspace o…
Counter-example guided Imitation Learning of Feedback Controllers from Temporal Logic Specifications
Univ. Grenoble Alpes（格勒诺布尔阿尔卑斯大学）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）；Grenoble INP（格勒诺布尔理工学院）；VERIMAG（VERIMAG 实验室）；Decyphir SAS（Decyphir SAS 公司）；IIT Kanpur（印度理工学院坎普尔分校）；Aristotle University of Thessaloniki（塞萨洛尼基亚里士多德大学）
K. N. Toosi University of Technology（K. N. 图西理工大学）
Assurance of asymptotic trajectory tracking in robotic manipulators with a smooth control law in the presence of unmodeled dynamics or external disturbance is a challenging problem. Recently, it is asserted that it is achieved via a rigorous proof by designing a traditional model-free controller together with time delay estimation (TDE) such that neither dynamical parameters nor conservative assumptions on external disturbance are required. The purpose of this note is to show that this claim is not true and the stability proof of the method is incorrect. Finally, some modified versions of this…
The ability to realize nonlinear controllers with formal guarantees on dynamic robotic systems has the potential to enable more complex robotic behaviors -- yet, realizing these controllers is often practically challenging. To address this challenge, this paper presents the end-to-end realization of dynamic bipedal locomotion on an underactuated bipedal robot via hybrid zero dynamics and control Lyapunov functions. A compliant model of Cassie is represented as a hybrid system to set the stage for a trajectory optimization framework. With the goal of achieving a variety of walking speeds in all…
This paper is concerned with designing self-driven fitness functions for Embedded Evolutionary Robotics. The proposed approach considers the entropy of the sensori-motor stream generated by the robot controller. This entropy is computed using unsupervised learning; its maximization, achieved by an on-board evolutionary algorithm, implements a "curiosity instinct", favouring controllers visiting many diverse sensori-motor states (sms). Further, the set of sms discovered by an individual can be transmitted to its offspring, making a cultural evolution mode possible. Cumulative entropy (computed …
IST Austria (Institute of Science and Technology Austria)（奥地利科学技术研究所）；Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay（印度理工学院孟买分校）
We consider partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs), that are a standard framework for robotics applications to model uncertainties present in the real world, with temporal logic specifications. All temporal logic specifications in linear-time temporal logic (LTL) can be expressed as parity objectives. We study the qualitative analysis problem for POMDPs with parity objectives that asks whether there is a controller (policy) to ensure that the objective holds with probability 1 (almost-surely). While the qualitative analysis of POMDPs with parity objectives is undecidable, rece…
University of Luxembourg（卢森堡大学）；Technische Universität Wien（维也纳技术大学）；University of L’Aquila（拉奎拉大学）；Chalmers University of Technology — University of Gothenburg（查尔姆斯理工大学—哥德堡大学）；Politecnico di Milano（米兰理工大学）
Mobile and general-purpose robots increasingly support our everyday life, requiring dependable robotics control software. Creating such software mainly amounts to implementing their complex behaviors known as missions. Recognizing the need, a large number of domain-specific specification languages has been proposed. These, in addition to traditional logical languages, allow the use of formally specified missions for synthesis, verification, simulation, or guiding the implementation. For instance, the logical language LTL is commonly used by experts to specify missions, as an input for planners…
Institute for Systems and Robotics（系统与机器人研究所）；Instituto Superior Tecnico（高等技术学院）；Universidade de Lisboa（里斯本大学）
We present a force feedback controller for a dexterous robotic hand equipped with force sensors on its fingertips. Our controller uses the conditional postural synergies framework to generate the grasp postures, i.e. the finger configuration of the robot, at each time step based on forces measured on the robot's fingertips. Using this framework we are able to control the hand during different grasp types using only one variable, the grasp size, which we define as the distance between the tip of the thumb and the index finger. Instead of controlling the finger limbs independently, our controlle…
Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学）；University of California San Diego（加州大学圣迭戈分校）；University of Cambridge（剑桥大学）
Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) enables robots to perform some intelligent tasks end-to-end. However, there are still many challenges for long-horizon sparse-reward robotic manipulator tasks. On the one hand, a sparse-reward setting causes exploration inefficient. On the other hand, exploration using physical robots is of high cost and unsafe. In this paper, we propose a method of learning long-horizon sparse-reward tasks utilizing one or more existing traditional controllers named base controllers in this paper. Built upon Deep Deterministic Policy Gradients (DDPG), our algorithm incorporat…
Norwegian University of Science and Technology（挪威科技大学）；SINTEF DIGITAL（SINTEF数字研究所）
In this article we show how the model predictive path following controller allows robotic manipulators to stop at obstructions in a way that model predictive trajectory tracking controllers cannot. We present both controllers as applied to robotic manipulators, simulations for a two-link manipulator using an interior point solver, consider discretization of the optimal control problem using collocation or Runge-Kutta, and discuss the real-time viability of our implementation of the model predictive path following controller.
Aarhus University（奥胡斯大学）；Aalborg University（奥尔堡大学）；Conpleks Innovation；University of Southern Denmark（南丹麦大学）
This paper describes a collaborative modelling approach to automated and robotic agricultural vehicle design. The Cresendo technology allows engineers from different disciplines to collaborate and produce system models. The combined models are called co-models and their execution co-simulation. To support future development efforts a template library of different vehicle and controllers types are provided. This paper describes a methodology to developing co-models from initial problem definition to deployment of the actual system. We illustrate the development methodology with an example devel…
Augmenting Neural Networks-Based Model Approximators in Robotic Force-Tracking Tasks
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano（机械工程系，米兰理工学院）；Department of Information Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics (DIEM), University of Salerno（信息工程、电气工程和应用数学系（DIEM），萨勒诺大学）
Force control is essential for medical robots when touching and contacting the patient's body. To increase the stability and efficiency in force control, an Adaption Module could be used to adjust the parameters for different contact situations. We propose an adaptive controller with an Adaption Module which can produce control parameters based on force feedback and real-time stiffness detection. We develop methods for learning the optimal policies by value iteration and using the data generated from those policies to train the Adaptive Module. We test this controller on different zones of a p…
Southern University of Science and Technology（南方科技大学）
Coordinated motion control in swarm robotics aims to ensure the coherence of members in space, i.e., the robots in a swarm perform coordinated movements to maintain spatial structures. This problem can be modeled as a tracking control problem, in which individuals in the swarm follow a target position with the consideration of specific relative distance or orientations. To keep the communication cost low, the PID controller can be utilized to achieve the leader-follower tracking control task without the information of leader velocities. However, the controller's parameters need to be optimized…
University of Arkansas（阿肯色大学）；DePaul University（德保罗大学）；Georgia Institute of Technology（佐治亚理工学院）；Emory University（埃默里大学）
In this article, the control problem of one section pneumatically actuated soft robotic arm is investigated in detail. To date, extensive prior work has been done in soft robotics kinematics and dynamics modeling. Proper controller designs can complement the modeling part since they are able to compensate other effects that have not been considered in the modeling, such as the model uncertainties, system parameter identification error, hysteresis, etc. In this paper, we explored different control approaches (kinematic control, PD+feedback linearization, passivity control, adaptive passivity co…
OmniVIC: A Self-Improving Variable Impedance Controller with Vision-Language In-Context Learning for Safe Robotic Manipulation
Human-Robot Interfaces and Interaction Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa, Italy（人机交互实验室，意大利理工学院，热那亚）；Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA（佐治亚理工学院，美国亚特兰大）
Robo-MUTUAL: Robotic Multimodal Task Specification via Unimodal Learning
Institute for AI Industry Research (AIR), Tsinghua University（清华大学人工智能产业研究院（AIR））；College of Engineering, Peking University（北京大学工学院）；Sensetime Research（商汤科技研究院）；University of Toronto（多伦多大学）；University College London（伦敦大学学院）；Shanghai AI Lab（上海人工智能实验室）
Due to the enormous technological improvements obtained in the last decades it is possible to use robotic vehicles for underwater exploration. This work describes the development of a dynamic positioning system for remotely operated underwater vehicles based. The adopted approach is developed using Lyapunov Stability Theory and enhanced by a neural network based algorithm for uncertainty and disturbance compensation. The performance of the proposed control scheme is evaluated by means of numerical simulations.
