12,893 research outputs found
Real-Time Motion Planning of Legged Robots: A Model Predictive Control Approach
We introduce a real-time, constrained, nonlinear Model Predictive Control for
the motion planning of legged robots. The proposed approach uses a constrained
optimal control algorithm known as SLQ. We improve the efficiency of this
algorithm by introducing a multi-processing scheme for estimating value
function in its backward pass. This pass has been often calculated as a single
process. This parallel SLQ algorithm can optimize longer time horizons without
proportional increase in its computation time. Thus, our MPC algorithm can
generate optimized trajectories for the next few phases of the motion within
only a few milliseconds. This outperforms the state of the art by at least one
order of magnitude. The performance of the approach is validated on a quadruped
robot for generating dynamic gaits such as trotting.Comment: 8 page
Domain Decomposition for Stochastic Optimal Control
This work proposes a method for solving linear stochastic optimal control
(SOC) problems using sum of squares and semidefinite programming. Previous work
had used polynomial optimization to approximate the value function, requiring a
high polynomial degree to capture local phenomena. To improve the scalability
of the method to problems of interest, a domain decomposition scheme is
presented. By using local approximations, lower degree polynomials become
sufficient, and both local and global properties of the value function are
captured. The domain of the problem is split into a non-overlapping partition,
with added constraints ensuring continuity. The Alternating Direction
Method of Multipliers (ADMM) is used to optimize over each domain in parallel
and ensure convergence on the boundaries of the partitions. This results in
improved conditioning of the problem and allows for much larger and more
complex problems to be addressed with improved performance.Comment: 8 pages. Accepted to CDC 201
Constraint interface preconditioning for topology optimization problems
The discretization of constrained nonlinear optimization problems arising in
the field of topology optimization yields algebraic systems which are
challenging to solve in practice, due to pathological ill-conditioning, strong
nonlinearity and size. In this work we propose a methodology which brings
together existing fast algorithms, namely, interior-point for the optimization
problem and a novel substructuring domain decomposition method for the ensuing
large-scale linear systems. The main contribution is the choice of interface
preconditioner which allows for the acceleration of the domain decomposition
method, leading to performance independent of problem size.Comment: To be published in SIAM J. Sci. Com
Partitioning Procedure for Polynomial Optimization: Application to Portfolio Decisions with Higher Order Moments
We consider the problem of finding the minimum of a real-valued multivariate polynomial function constrained in a compact set defined by polynomial inequalities and equalities. This problem, called polynomial optimization problem (POP), is generally nonconvex and has been of growing interest to many researchers in recent years. Our goal is to tackle POPs using decomposition. Towards this goal we introduce a partitioning procedure. The problem manipulations are in line with the pattern used in the Benders decomposition [1], namely relaxation preceded by projection. Stengle’s and Putinar’s Positivstellensatz are employed to derive the so-called feasibility and optimality constraints, respectively. We test the performance of the proposed method on a collection of benchmark problems and we present the numerical results. As an application, we consider the problem of selecting an investment portfolio optimizing the mean, variance, skewness and kurtosis of the portfolio.Polynomial optimization, Semidefinite relaxations, Positivstellensatz, Sum of squares, Benders decomposition, Portfolio optimization
Augmented Lagrangian Algorithms under Constraint Partitioning
We present a novel constraint-partitioning approach for solving continuous nonlinear optimization based on augmented Lagrange method. In contrast to previous work, our approach is based on a new constraint partitioning theory and can handle global constraints. We employ a hyper-graph partitioning method to recognize the problem structure. We prove global convergence under assumptions that are much more relaxed than previous work and solve problems as large as 40,000 variables that other solvers such as IPOPT [11] cannot solve
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