Sensitivity-Aware Model Predictive Control for Robots With Parametric Uncertainty

This article introduces a computationally efficient robust model predictive control (MPC) scheme for controlling nonlinear systems affected by parametric uncertainties in their models. The approach leverages the recent notion of closed-loop state sensitivity and the associated ellipsoidal tubes of p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on robotics Vol. 41; pp. 3039 - 3058
Main Authors: Belvedere, Tommaso, Cognetti, Marco, Oriolo, Giuseppe, Giordano, Paolo Robuffo
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025
Subjects:
Aerial systems
Automatic
Computational efficiency
Engineering Sciences
mechanics and control
model predictive control (MPC)
Navigation
Optimization
optimization and optimal control
Planning
Robot sensing systems
Robots
robust/adaptive control of robotic systems
Robustness
Sensitivity
Trajectory
Uncertainty
mechanics and control
Aerial systems
robust/adaptive control of robotic systems
model predictive control (MPC)
optimization and optimal control
ISSN:1552-3098, 1941-0468
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This article introduces a computationally efficient robust model predictive control (MPC) scheme for controlling nonlinear systems affected by parametric uncertainties in their models. The approach leverages the recent notion of closed-loop state sensitivity and the associated ellipsoidal tubes of perturbed trajectories for taking into account online time-varying restrictions on state and input constraints. This makes the MPC controller "aware" of potential additional requirements needed to cope with parametric uncertainty, thus significantly improving the tracking performance and success rates during navigation in constrained environments. One key contribution lies in the introduction of a computationally efficient robust MPC formulation with a comparable computational complexity to a standard MPC (i.e., an MPC not explicitly dealing with parametric uncertainty). An extensive simulation campaign is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in handling parametric uncertainties and enhancing task performance, safety, and overall robustness. Furthermore, we also provide an experimental validation that shows the feasibility of the approach in real-world conditions and corroborates the statistical findings of the simulation campaign. The versatility and efficiency of the proposed method make it therefore a valuable tool for real-time control of robots subject to nonnegligible uncertainty in their models.
ISSN:1552-3098
1941-0468
DOI:10.1109/TRO.2025.3554415