Feedback Control of Underactuated Systems via Sequential Composition: Visually Guided Control of a Unicycle

George Kantor

Abstract

This talk will introduce a framework for the construction of globally convergent purely feedback based controllers for underactuated kinematic systems. To accomplish this, we combine two ideas that have recently been presented in the literature. We use the idea of variable constraint control (VCC) to divide the problem into a natural sequence of subproblems that can be solved via feedback control. We then use sequential composition to connect the resulting palette of controllers and automatically orchestrate their switching to generate a globally convergent feedback policy.

To demonstrate this framework, we present a controller that solves the navigation problem for a unicycle-like robot operating in a plane. Feedback for the controller is provided by a robot- mounted camera that measures the relative pose between the robot and a fixed engineered landmark. The resulting system respects the constraint that the landmark remain within the field of view of the robot-mounted camera at all times. Simulation results will be presented.

 

Speaker Appointments

For appointments, please contact George Kantor (kantor@cs.cmu.edu).