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This study focuses on addressing the problem of motion planning within workspaces cluttered with obstacles while considering temporal and input constraints. These specifications can encapsulate intricate high-level objectives involving both temporal and spatial constraints. The existing literature lacks the ability to fulfill time specifications while simultaneously managing input-saturation constraints. The proposed approach introduces a hybrid three-component control algorithm designed to learn the safe execution of a high-level specification expressed as a timed temporal logic formula across predefined regions of interest in the workspace. The first component encompasses a motion controller enabling secure navigation within the minimum allowable time interval dictated by input constraints, facilitating the abstraction of the robot's motion as a timed transition system between regions of interest. The second component utilizes formal verification and convex optimization techniques to derive an optimal high-level timed plan over the mentioned transition system, ensuring adherence to the agent's specification. However, the necessary navigation times and associated costs among regions are initially unknown. Consequently, the algorithm's third component iteratively adjusts the transition system and computes new plans as the agent navigates, acquiring updated information about required time intervals and associated navigation costs. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is demonstrated through both simulation and experimental studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last years, the development and control of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles with attached robotic manipulators, also called Underwater Vehicle Manipulator System (UVMS), has gained significant research attention. In such applications, feedback controllers which guarantee that the end‐effector of the UVMS is fulfilling desired complex tasks should be designed in a way that state and input constraints are taken into consideration. Furthermore, due to their complicated structure, unmodeled dynamics as well as external disturbances may arise. Complex tasks can be conveniently given in the so‐called Linear Temporal Logic (LTL). Motivated by this, the authors develop a combined abstraction and control synthesis framework in which, given the uncertain kinematics/dynamics of the UVMS, a workspace divided into Regions of Interest and a desired LTL task, a sequence of feedback control laws that probably guarantee the LTL formula is provided. The proposed controller falls within the tube‐based non‐linear model predictive control methodology and can handle the rich expressivity of LTL in both safety and reachability specifications. Numerical simulations verify the validity of the proposed framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents two novel control methodologies for the cooperative manipulation of an object by $N$ robotic agents. First, we design an adaptive control protocol which employs quaternion feedback for the object orientation to avoid potential representation singularities. Second, we propose a control protocol that guarantees predefined transient and steady-state performance for the object trajectory. Both methodologies are decentralized, since the agents calculate their own signals without communicating with each other, as well as robust to external disturbances and model uncertainties. Moreover, we consider that the grasping points are rigid and avoid the need for force/torque measurements. Load distribution is also included via a grasp matrix pseudoinverse to account for potential differences in the agents’ power capabilities. Finally, simulation and experimental results with two robotic arms verify the theoretical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this brief, we study the longitudinal control problem for a platoon of vehicles with unknown nonlinear dynamics under both the predecessor-following and the bidirectional control architectures. The proposed control protocols are fully distributed in the sense that each vehicle utilizes feedback from its relative position with respect to its preceding and following vehicles as well as its own velocity, which can all be easily acquired by onboard sensors. Moreover, no previous knowledge of model nonlinearities/disturbances is incorporated in the control design, enhancing in that way the robustness of the overall closed-loop system against model imperfections. Additionally, certain designer-specified performance functions determine the transient and steady-state response, thus preventing connectivity breaks due to sensor limitations as well as intervehicular collisions. Finally, extensive simulation studies and a real-time experiment conducted with mobile robots clarify the proposed control protocols and verify their effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]