skip to main content


Title: Stampede: A Discrete-Optimization Method for Solving Pathwise-Inverse Kinematics
We present a discrete-optimization technique for finding feasible robot arm trajectories that pass through provided 6-DOF Cartesian-space end-effector paths with high accuracy, a problem called pathwise-inverse kinematics. The output from our method consists of a path function of joint-angles that best follows the provided end-effector path function, given some definition of ``best''. Our method, called Stampede, casts the robot motion translation problem as a discrete-space graph-search problem where the nodes in the graph are individually solved for using non-linear optimization; framing the problem in such a way gives rise to a well-structured graph that affords an effective best path calculation using an efficient dynamic-programming algorithm. We present techniques for sampling configuration space, such as diversity sampling and adaptive sampling, to construct the search-space in the graph. Through an evaluation, we show that our approach performs well in finding smooth, feasible, collision-free robot motions that match the input end-effector trace with very high accuracy, while alternative approaches, such as a state-of-the-art per-frame inverse kinematics solver and a global non-linear trajectory-optimization approach, performed unfavorably.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1830242
NSF-PAR ID:
10104781
Author(s) / Creator(s):
;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
2019 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. We present a method that finds locomanipulation plans that perform simultaneous locomotion and manipulation of objects for a desired end-effector trajectory. Key to our approach is to consider an injective locomotion constraint manifold that defines the locomotion scheme of the robot and then using this constraint manifold to search for admissible manipulation trajectories. The problem is formulated as a weighted-A* graph search whose planner output is a sequence of contact transitions and a path progression trajectory to construct the whole-body kinodynamic locomanipulation plan. We also provide a method for computing, visualizing, and learning the locomanipulability region, which is used to efficiently evaluate the edge transition feasibility during the graph search. Numerical simulations are performed with the NASA Valkyrie robot platform that utilizes a dynamic locomotion approach, called the divergent-component-of-motion (DCM), on two example locomanipulation scenarios. 
    more » « less
  2. We present an offline method to generate smooth, feasible motion for robot arms such that end-effector pose goals of a 6-DoF path are matched within acceptable limits specified by the user. Our approach aims to accurately match the position and orientation goals of the given path, and allows deviation from these goals if there is danger of self-collisions, joint-space discontinuities or kinematic singularities. Our method generates multiple candidate trajectories, and selects the best by incorporating sparse user input that specifies what kinds of deviations are acceptable. We apply our method to a range of challenging paths and show that our method generates solutions that achieve smooth, feasible motions while closely approximating the given pose goals and adhering to user specifications. 
    more » « less
  3. Embedding properties of network realizations of dissipative reduced order models Jörn Zimmerling, Mikhail Zaslavsky,Rob Remis, Shasri Moskow, Alexander Mamonov, Murthy Guddati, Vladimir Druskin, and Liliana Borcea Mathematical Sciences Department, Worcester Polytechnic Institute https://www.wpi.edu/people/vdruskin Abstract Realizations of reduced order models of passive SISO or MIMO LTI problems can be transformed to tridiagonal and block-tridiagonal forms, respectively, via dierent modications of the Lanczos algorithm. Generally, such realizations can be interpreted as ladder resistor-capacitor-inductor (RCL) networks. They gave rise to network syntheses in the rst half of the 20th century that was at the base of modern electronics design and consecutively to MOR that tremendously impacted many areas of engineering (electrical, mechanical, aerospace, etc.) by enabling ecient compression of the underlining dynamical systems. In his seminal 1950s works Krein realized that in addition to their compressing properties, network realizations can be used to embed the data back into the state space of the underlying continuum problems. In more recent works of the authors Krein's ideas gave rise to so-called nite-dierence Gaussian quadrature rules (FDGQR), allowing to approximately map the ROM state-space representation to its full order continuum counterpart on a judicially chosen grid. Thus, the state variables can be accessed directly from the transfer function without solving the full problem and even explicit knowledge of the PDE coecients in the interior, i.e., the FDGQR directly learns" the problem from its transfer function. This embedding property found applications in PDE solvers, inverse problems and unsupervised machine learning. Here we show a generalization of this approach to dissipative PDE problems, e.g., electromagnetic and acoustic wave propagation in lossy dispersive media. Potential applications include solution of inverse scattering problems in dispersive media, such as seismic exploration, radars and sonars. To x the idea, we consider a passive irreducible SISO ROM fn(s) = Xn j=1 yi s + σj , (62) assuming that all complex terms in (62) come in conjugate pairs. We will seek ladder realization of (62) as rjuj + vj − vj−1 = −shˆjuj , uj+1 − uj + ˆrj vj = −shj vj , (63) for j = 0, . . . , n with boundary conditions un+1 = 0, v1 = −1, and 4n real parameters hi, hˆi, ri and rˆi, i = 1, . . . , n, that can be considered, respectively, as the equivalent discrete inductances, capacitors and also primary and dual conductors. Alternatively, they can be viewed as respectively masses, spring stiness, primary and dual dampers of a mechanical string. Reordering variables would bring (63) into tridiagonal form, so from the spectral measure given by (62 ) the coecients of (63) can be obtained via a non-symmetric Lanczos algorithm written in J-symmetric form and fn(s) can be equivalently computed as fn(s) = u1. The cases considered in the original FDGQR correspond to either (i) real y, θ or (ii) real y and imaginary θ. Both cases are covered by the Stieltjes theorem, that yields in case (i) real positive h, hˆ and trivial r, rˆ, and in case (ii) real positive h,r and trivial hˆ,rˆ. This result allowed us a simple interpretation of (62) as the staggered nite-dierence approximation of the underlying PDE problem [2]. For PDEs in more than one variables (including topologically rich data-manifolds), a nite-dierence interpretation is obtained via a MIMO extensions in block form, e.g., [4, 3]. The main diculty of extending this approach to general passive problems is that the Stieltjes theory is no longer applicable. Moreover, the tridiagonal realization of a passive ROM transfer function (62) via the ladder network (63) cannot always be obtained in port-Hamiltonian form, i.e., the equivalent primary and dual conductors may change sign [1]. 100 Embedding of the Stieltjes problems, e.g., the case (i) was done by mapping h and hˆ into values of acoustic (or electromagnetic) impedance at grid cells, that required a special coordinate stretching (known as travel time coordinate transform) for continuous problems. Likewise, to circumvent possible non-positivity of conductors for the non-Stieltjes case, we introduce an additional complex s-dependent coordinate stretching, vanishing as s → ∞ [1]. This stretching applied in the discrete setting induces a diagonal factorization, removes oscillating coecients, and leads to an accurate embedding for moderate variations of the coecients of the continuum problems, i.e., it maps discrete coecients onto the values of their continuum counterparts. Not only does this embedding yields an approximate linear algebraic algorithm for the solution of the inverse problems for dissipative PDEs, it also leads to new insight into the properties of their ROM realizations. We will also discuss another approach to embedding, based on Krein-Nudelman theory [5], that results in special data-driven adaptive grids. References [1] Borcea, Liliana and Druskin, Vladimir and Zimmerling, Jörn, A reduced order model approach to inverse scattering in lossy layered media, Journal of Scientic Computing, V. 89, N1, pp. 136,2021 [2] Druskin, Vladimir and Knizhnerman, Leonid, Gaussian spectral rules for the three-point second dierences: I. A two-point positive denite problem in a semi-innite domain, SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis, V. 37, N 2, pp.403422, 1999 [3] Druskin, Vladimir and Mamonov, Alexander V and Zaslavsky, Mikhail, Distance preserving model order reduction of graph-Laplacians and cluster analysis, Druskin, Vladimir and Mamonov, Alexander V and Zaslavsky, Mikhail, Journal of Scientic Computing, V. 90, N 1, pp 130, 2022 [4] Druskin, Vladimir and Moskow, Shari and Zaslavsky, Mikhail LippmannSchwingerLanczos algorithm for inverse scattering problems, Inverse Problems, V. 37, N. 7, 2021, [5] Mark Adolfovich Nudelman The Krein String and Characteristic Functions of Maximal Dissipative Operators, Journal of Mathematical Sciences, 2004, V 124, pp 49184934 Go back to Plenary Speakers Go back to Speakers Go back 
    more » « less
  4. We study the path planning problem for continuum-arm robots, in which we are given a starting and an end point, and we need to compute a path for the tip of the continuum arm between the two points. We consider both cases where obstacles are present and where they are not. We demonstrate how to leverage the continuum arm features to introduce a new model that enables a path planning approach based on the configurations graph, for a continuum arm consisting of three sections, each consisting of three muscle actuators. The algorithm we apply to the configurations graph allows us to exploit parallelism in the computation to obtain efficient implementation. We conducted extensive tests, and the obtained results show the completeness of the proposed algorithm under the considered discretizations, in both cases where obstacles are present and where they are not. We compared our approach to the standard inverse kinematics approach. While the inverse kinematics approach is much faster when successful, our algorithm always succeeds in finding a path or reporting that no path exists, compared to a roughly 70% success rate of the inverse kinematics approach (when a path exists). 
    more » « less
  5. SUMMARY

    We introduce a new finite-element (FE) based computational framework to solve forward and inverse elastic deformation problems for earthquake faulting via the adjoint method. Based on two advanced computational libraries, FEniCS and hIPPYlib for the forward and inverse problems, respectively, this framework is flexible, transparent and easily extensible. We represent a fault discontinuity through a mixed FE elasticity formulation, which approximates the stress with higher order accuracy and exposes the prescribed slip explicitly in the variational form without using conventional split node and decomposition discrete approaches. This also allows the first order optimality condition, that is the vanishing of the gradient, to be expressed in continuous form, which leads to consistent discretizations of all field variables, including the slip. We show comparisons with the standard, pure displacement formulation and a model containing an in-plane mode II crack, whose slip is prescribed via the split node technique. We demonstrate the potential of this new computational framework by performing a linear coseismic slip inversion through adjoint-based optimization methods, without requiring computation of elastic Green’s functions. Specifically, we consider a penalized least squares formulation, which in a Bayesian setting—under the assumption of Gaussian noise and prior—reflects the negative log of the posterior distribution. The comparison of the inversion results with a standard, linear inverse theory approach based on Okada’s solutions shows analogous results. Preliminary uncertainties are estimated via eigenvalue analysis of the Hessian of the penalized least squares objective function. Our implementation is fully open-source and Jupyter notebooks to reproduce our results are provided. The extension to a fully Bayesian framework for detailed uncertainty quantification and non-linear inversions, including for heterogeneous media earthquake problems, will be analysed in a forthcoming paper.

     
    more » « less