Hierarchical Active Inference Control for a nonholonomic mobile robot

This master thesis introduces Hierarchical Active Inference Control (HAIC) as a control method for nonholonomic systems. This method only requires tuning of a minimal number of hyperparameters and has a relative low computation load. HAIC is based on recent research done in the application of the neuroscientific theory of Active Inference for...

Dynamic Optimization Fabrics for Motion Generation

Optimization fabrics are a geometric approach to real-time local motion generation, where motions are designed by the composition of several differential equations that exhibit a desired motion behavior. We generalize this framework to dynamic scenarios and nonholonomic robots and prove that fundamental properties can be conserved. We show...

Distributed IDA-PBC for Nonholonomic Mechanical Systems

Nonholonomic mechanical systems encompass a large class of practically interesting robotic structures, such as wheeled mobile robots, space manipulators, and multi-fingered robot hands. However, few results exist on the cooperative control of such systems in a generic, distributed approach. In this work we extend a recently developed distributed...

Distributed IDA-PBC for a class of nonholonomic mechanical systems

Nonholonomic mechanical systems encompass a large class of practically interesting robotic structures, such as wheeled mobile robots, space manipulators, and multi-fingered robot hands. However, few results exist on the cooperative control of such systems in a generic, distributed approach. In this work we extend a recently developed...

Neuro-Adaptive Cooperative Tracking Rendezvous of Nonholonomic Mobile Robots

This brief proposes a neuro-adaptive method for the unsolved problem of cooperative tracking rendezvous of nonholonomic mobile robots (NMRs) subject to uncertain and unmodelled dynamics. A hierarchical cooperative control framework is proposed, which consists of a novel distributed estimator along with local neuro-adaptive tracking...

Development of a portable, multi-agent experimental platform for demonstration of a persistent coverage control algorithm

At DCSC, research is conducted in the field of multi-agent systems. While this research often takes a theoretical approach, there is a growing need to verify the research on an experimental platform. In this way, the newly developed methods can be experimentally validated. For this purpose, a compact system is developed for localization and pose...

Trajectory Optimization for Autonomous Navigation in Dynamic Environments

Motion planning for Autonomous Ground Vehicles (AGVs) in dynamic environments is an extensively studied and complex problem. State of the art methods provide approximate solutions that make conservative assumptions to provide safety and feasibility. We aim to outperform current methods by following a trajectory optimization-based approach,...

Control of Tip Actuated Steerable Needles

Percutaneous procedures are minimally invasive medical procedures that use needles to locally operate on a target in a patient’s body. The precise placement of the needle in the body is a challenging task that can affect the quality and efficiency of these procedures. Needle insertion accuracy may be improved by robot-assisted control of...

Modelling dynamical systems with equality state-space constraints

A mathematical theory for modelling dynamical systems with equality state-space constraints is presented. The dynamic behaviour of these systems is represented by a combination of differential and algebraic equations. It Is shown that the freedom offered by control is essential to obtain other, mathematically equivalent formulations. The notion...