40 research outputs found
Input-to-State Safety With Control Barrier Functions
This letter presents a new notion of input-to-state safe control barrier
functions (ISSf-CBFs), which ensure safety of nonlinear dynamical systems under
input disturbances. Similar to how safety conditions are specified in terms of
forward invariance of a set, input-to-state safety (ISSf) conditions are
specified in terms of forward invariance of a slightly larger set. In this
context, invariance of the larger set implies that the states stay either
inside or very close to the smaller safe set; and this closeness is bounded by
the magnitude of the disturbances. The main contribution of the letter is the
methodology used for obtaining a valid ISSf-CBF, given a control barrier
function (CBF). The associated universal control law will also be provided.
Towards the end, we will study unified quadratic programs (QPs) that combine
control Lyapunov functions (CLFs) and ISSf-CBFs in order to obtain a single
control law that ensures both safety and stability in systems with input
disturbances.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures; Final submitted versio
Input to State Stability of Bipedal Walking Robots: Application to DURUS
Bipedal robots are a prime example of systems which exhibit highly nonlinear
dynamics, underactuation, and undergo complex dissipative impacts. This paper
discusses methods used to overcome a wide variety of uncertainties, with the
end result being stable bipedal walking. The principal contribution of this
paper is to establish sufficiency conditions for yielding input to state stable
(ISS) hybrid periodic orbits, i.e., stable walking gaits under model-based and
phase-based uncertainties. In particular, it will be shown formally that
exponential input to state stabilization (e-ISS) of the continuous dynamics,
and hybrid invariance conditions are enough to realize stable walking in the
23-DOF bipedal robot DURUS. This main result will be supported through
successful and sustained walking of the bipedal robot DURUS in a laboratory
environment.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure
Control Barrier Functions in Dynamic UAVs for Kinematic Obstacle Avoidance: A Collision Cone Approach
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), specifically quadrotors, have revolutionized
various industries with their maneuverability and versatility, but their safe
operation in dynamic environments heavily relies on effective collision
avoidance techniques. This paper introduces a novel technique for safely
navigating a quadrotor along a desired route while avoiding kinematic
obstacles. The proposed approach employs control barrier functions and utilizes
collision cones to ensure that the quadrotor's velocity and the obstacle's
velocity always point away from each other. In particular, we propose a new
constraint formulation that ensures that the relative velocity between the
quadrotor and the obstacle always avoids a cone of vectors that may lead to a
collision. By showing that the proposed constraint is a valid control barrier
function (CBFs) for quadrotors, we are able to leverage on its real-time
implementation via Quadratic Programs (QPs), called the CBF-QPs. We validate
the effectiveness of the proposed CBF-QPs by demonstrating collision avoidance
with moving obstacles under multiple scenarios. This is shown in the pybullet
simulator.Furthermore we compare the proposed approach with CBF-QPs shown in
literature, especially the well-known higher order CBF-QPs (HO-CBF-QPs), where
in we show that it is more conservative compared to the proposed approach. This
comparison also shown in simulation in detail.Comment: Submitted to 2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent
Robots and Systems (IROS). 8 pages, 9 figure
Safe Legged Locomotion using Collision Cone Control Barrier Functions (C3BFs)
Legged robots exhibit significant potential across diverse applications,
including but not limited to hazardous environment search and rescue missions
and the exploration of unexplored regions both on Earth and in outer space.
However, the successful navigation of these robots in dynamic environments
heavily hinges on the implementation of efficient collision avoidance
techniques. In this research paper, we employ Collision Cone Control Barrier
Functions (C3BF) to ensure the secure movement of legged robots within
environments featuring a wide array of static and dynamic obstacles. We
introduce the Quadratic Program (QP) formulation of C3BF, referred to as
C3BF-QP, which serves as a protective filter layer atop a reference controller
to ensure the robots' safety during operation. The effectiveness of this
approach is illustrated through simulations conducted on PyBullet.Comment: 5 Pages, 5 Figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:2303.1587
Polygonal Cone Control Barrier Functions (PolyC2BF) for safe navigation in cluttered environments
In fields such as mining, search and rescue, and archaeological exploration,
ensuring real-time, collision-free navigation of robots in confined, cluttered
environments is imperative. Despite the value of established path planning
algorithms, they often face challenges in convergence rates and handling
dynamic infeasibilities. Alternative techniques like collision cones struggle
to accurately represent complex obstacle geometries. This paper introduces a
novel category of control barrier functions, known as Polygonal Cone Control
Barrier Function (PolyC2BF), which addresses overestimation and computational
complexity issues. The proposed PolyC2BF, formulated as a Quadratic Programming
(QP) problem, proves effective in facilitating collision-free movement of
multiple robots in complex environments. The efficacy of this approach is
further demonstrated through PyBullet simulations on quadruped (unicycle
model), and crazyflie 2.1 (quadrotor model) in cluttered environments.Comment: 6 Pages, 6 Figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:2303.1587
Input-to-State Safety with Control Barrier Functions
This letter presents a new notion of input-to-state safe control barrier functions (ISSf-CBFs), which ensure safety of nonlinear dynamical systems under input disturbances. Similar to how safety conditions are specified in terms of forward invariance of a set, input-to-state safety (ISSf) conditions are specified in terms of forward invariance of a slightly larger set. In this context, invariance of the larger set implies that the states stay either inside or very close to the smaller safe set; and this closeness is bounded by the magnitude of the disturbances. The main contribution of the letter is the methodology used for obtaining a valid ISSf-CBF, given a control barrier function (CBF). The associated universal control law will also be provided. Towards the end, we will study unified quadratic programs (QPs) that combine control Lyapunov functions (CLFs) and ISSf-CBFs in order to obtain a single control law that ensures both safety and stability in systems with input disturbances
Safety-Critical Kinematic Control of Robotic Systems
Over the decades, kinematic controllers have proven to be practically useful for applications like set-point and trajectory tracking in robotic systems. To this end, we formulate a novel safety-critical paradigm by extending the methodology of control barrier functions (CBFs) to kinematic equations governing robotic systems. We demonstrate a purely kinematic implementation of a velocity-based CBF, and subsequently introduce a formulation that guarantees safety at the level of dynamics. This is achieved through a new form of CBFs that incorporate kinetic energy with the classical forms, thereby minimizing model dependence and conservativeness. The approach is then extended to underactuated systems. This method and the purely kinematic implementation are demonstrated in simulation on two robotic platforms: a 6-DOF robotic manipulator, and a cart-pole system