We present SODA-MPC, a Safe, Out-of-Distribution-Adaptive Model Predictive Control algorithm, which uses an ensemble of learned models for prediction, with a runtime monitor to flag unreliable out-of-distribution (OOD) predictions. When an OOD situation is detected, SODA-MPC triggers a safe fallback control strategy based on reachability, yielding a control framework that achieves the high performance of learning-based models while preserving the safety of reachability-based control. We demonstrate the method in the context of an autonomous vehicle, driving among dynamic pedestrians, where SODA-MPC uses a neural network ensemble for pedestrian prediction. We calibrate the OOD signal using conformal prediction to derive an OOD detector with probabilistic guarantees on the false-positive rate, given a user-specified confidence level. During in-distribution operation, the MPC controller avoids collisions with a pedestrian based on the trajectory predicted by the mean of the ensemble. When OOD conditions are detected, the MPC switches to a reachability-based controller to avoid collisions with the reachable set of the pedestrian assuming a maximum pedestrian speed, to guarantee safety under the worst-case actions of the pedestrian. We verify SODA-MPC in extensive autonomous driving simulations in a pedestrian-crossing scenario. Our model ensemble is trained and calibrated with real pedestrian data, showing that our OOD detector obtains the desired accuracy rate within a theoretically-predicted range. We empirically show improved safety and improved task completion compared with two state-of-the-art MPC methods that also use conformal prediction, but without OOD adaptation. Further, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our method with the large-scale multi-agent predictor Trajectron++, using large-scale traffic data from the nuScenes dataset for training and calibration.
Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems（马克斯·普朗克智能系统研究所）；ETH Zürich（苏黎世联邦理工学院）；University of Stuttgart（斯图加特大学）
Fast feedback control and safety guarantees are essential in modern robotics. We present an approach that achieves both by combining novel robust model predictive control (MPC) with function approximation via (deep) neural networks (NNs). The result is a new approach for complex tasks with nonlinear, uncertain, and constrained dynamics as are common in robotics. Specifically, we leverage recent results in MPC research to propose a new robust setpoint tracking MPC algorithm, which achieves reliable and safe tracking of a dynamic setpoint while guaranteeing stability and constraint satisfaction.…
Safe On-Orbit Dislodging of Deployable Structures via Robust Adaptive MPC
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of New Mexico（电气与计算机工程系，新墨西哥大学）；Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of New Mexico（机械工程系，新墨西哥大学）
Cooptimizing Safety and Performance Using Safety Value-Constrained Model Predictive Control
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Southern California（南加州大学明希德电气与计算机工程系）；Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford University（斯坦福大学航空与航天系）；Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, New York University（纽约大学电气与计算机工程系）
D-SafeMPC: Diffusion-Driven Safe Model Predictive Control with Discrete-Time Control Barrier Functions
Paderborn University（帕德博恩大学）；Illinois Institute of Technology（伊利诺伊理工学院）；California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院）；Technical University of Munich（慕尼黑工业大学）
Hamburg University of Technology（汉堡工业大学）；Institute of Mechanics and Ocean Engineering（力学与海洋工程研究所）
The goal of this thesis is to propose the combination of Control-Barrier-Functions (CBF) with Model-Predictive-Control (MPC) resulting in the novel Model-Predictive-Control-Barrier-Function (MPCBF). It can be shown, that the performance of the MPCBF surpasses the performance of the CBF due to the increased time horizon of the MPC. Moreover, the MPCBF was applied to a quadrotor, a system strongly in need of fast and predictive control. Using the MPCBF, the quadrotor was able to avoid obstacles, which the CBF failed to avoid due to the relative speed of the obstacle. The results of this work are…
Learning Maximal Safe Sets Using Hypernetworks for MPC-based Local Trajectory Planning in Unknown Environments
Continental Automotive Technologies GmbH, Germany（德国大陆汽车技术有限公司）；Technical University of Berlin, Germany（柏林技术大学）；Free University of Berlin, Germany（柏林自由大学）
Safe Beyond the Horizon: Efficient Sampling-based MPC with Neural Control Barrier Functions
D. Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology（佐治亚理工学院D.Guggenheim航空航天工程学院）；Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院航空与航天工程系）
Hubei University（湖北大学）；Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society (AIRS)（深圳市人工智能与机器人研究院）；The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen)（香港中文大学（深圳））；Manchester Metropolitan Joint Institute, Hubei University（湖北大学曼城联合学院）
Formation-Aware Adaptive Conformalized Perception for Safe Leader-Follower Multi-Robot Systems
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston（电子与计算机工程系，休斯顿大学）；Department of Engineering Technology, University of Houston（工程技术系，休斯顿大学）
University of Freiburg（弗赖堡大学）；Robert Bosch GmbH（罗伯特·博世有限公司）
Robots have been operating in dynamic environments and shared workspaces for decades. Most optimization based motion planning methods, however, do not consider the movement of other agents, e.g. humans or other robots, and therefore do not guarantee collision avoidance in such scenarios. This paper builds upon the Convex Inner ApprOximation (CIAO) method and proposes a motion planning algorithm that guarantees collision avoidance in predictable dynamic environments. Furthermore, it generalizes CIAO's free region concept to arbitrary norms and proposes a cost function to approximate time optima…
The optimal performance of robotic systems is usually achieved near the limit of state and input bounds. Model predictive control (MPC) is a prevalent strategy to handle these operational constraints, however, safety still remains an open challenge for MPC as it needs to guarantee that the system stays within an invariant set. In order to obtain safe optimal performance in the context of set invariance, we present a safety-critical model predictive control strategy utilizing discrete-time control barrier functions (CBFs), which guarantees system safety and accomplishes optimal performance via …
Maximal Controlled Invariant-MPC: Enhancing Feasibility and Reducing Conservatism through Terminal CBF Constraint in Safety-Critical Control
Graduate Student, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering（丹尼尔·古吉恩航空航天工程学院研究生）；Assistant Professor, Director, Aerospace Robotics Lab, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering（丹尼尔·古吉恩航空航天工程学院助理教授、主任、航空航天机器人实验室）
Technical University of Munich（慕尼黑工业大学）；Delft University of Technology（代尔夫特理工大学）
Autonomous cars can reduce road traffic accidents and provide a safer mode of transport. However, key technical challenges, such as safe navigation in complex urban environments, need to be addressed before deploying these vehicles on the market. Teleoperation can help smooth the transition from human operated to fully autonomous vehicles since it still has human in the loop providing the scope of fallback on driver. This paper presents an Active Safety System (ASS) approach for teleoperated driving. The proposed approach helps the operator ensure the safety of the vehicle in complex environme…
An ACO-MPC Framework for Energy-Efficient and Collision-Free Path Planning in Autonomous Maritime Navigation
School of Engineering, University of Strathclyde（斯特拉思克莱德大学工程学院）；James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow（格拉斯哥大学詹姆斯·瓦特工程学院）；School of Power and energy, Northwestern Polytechnical University（西北工业大学动力与能源学院）；School of Engineering, University of Birmingham（伯明翰大学工程学院）
VisioPath: Vision-Language Enhanced Model Predictive Control for Safe Autonomous Navigation in Mixed Traffic
System Engineering Program, Cornell University（Cornell大学系统工程项目）；School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University（Cornell大学土木与环境工程学院）；School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University（Cornell大学电气与计算机工程学院）
University of California Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校）；California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院）
Sample-based learning model predictive control (LMPC) strategies have recently attracted attention due to their desirable theoretical properties and their good empirical performance on robotic tasks. However, prior analysis of LMPC controllers for stochastic systems has mainly focused on linear systems in the iterative learning control setting. We present a novel LMPC algorithm, Adjustable Boundary Condition LMPC (ABC-LMPC), which enables rapid adaptation to novel start and goal configurations and theoretically show that the resulting controller guarantees iterative improvement in expectation …
Safe and Performant Deployment of Autonomous Systems via Model Predictive Control and Hamilton-Jacobi Reachability Analysis
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Southern California（电气与计算机工程系，南加州大学）；Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford University（航空与航天系，斯坦福大学）；Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, New York University（电气与计算机工程系，纽约大学）
Safe and precise reference tracking is a crucial characteristic of MAVs that have to operate under the influence of external disturbances in cluttered environments. In this paper, we present a NMPC that exploits the fully physics based non-linear dynamics of the system. We furthermore show how the moment and thrust control inputs can be transformed into feasible actuator commands. In order to guarantee safe operation despite potential loss of a motor under which we show our system keeps operating safely, we developed an EKF based motor failure identification algorithm. We verify the effectiven…
In this paper, a safe and learning-based control framework for model predictive control (MPC) is proposed to optimize nonlinear systems with a non-differentiable objective function under uncertain environmental disturbances. The control framework integrates a learning-based MPC with an auxiliary controller in a way of minimal intervention. The learning-based MPC augments the prior nominal model with incremental Gaussian Processes to learn the uncertain disturbances. The cross-entropy method (CEM) is utilized as the sampling-based optimizer for the MPC with a non-differentiable objective functi…
Arizona State University（亚利桑那州立大学）；Toyota Research Institute of North America（丰田北美研究院）
In this paper, we present a decentralized control approach based on a Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) method that employs barrier certificates for safe navigation of multiple nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots in unknown environments with static and/or dynamic obstacles. This method incorporates a Learned Barrier Function (LBF) into the NMPC design in order to guarantee safe robot navigation, i.e., prevent robot collisions with other robots and the obstacles. We refer to our proposed control approach as NMPC-LBF. Since each robot does not have a priori knowledge about the obstacles a…
SRL-MPC: Shape-Aware Reinforcement Learned Model Predictive Control
The University of Hong Kong（香港大学）；Southern University of Science and Technology（南方科技大学）；University of Michigan（密歇根大学）；Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology（深圳先进技术研究院）
Safe MPC Alignment with Human Directional Feedback
Intelligent Robotics and Interactive Systems (IRIS) Lab in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy（智能机器人与交互系统实验室（IRIS））；Polytechnic School（理工学院）；School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy（工程物质、运输与能量学院）；Departments of Industrial Engineering & Management Sciences（工业工程与管理科学系）；Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering（电气与系统工程系）
