Abhishek Pandala

Bio: Abhishek Pandala is an academic researcher from Virginia Tech. The author has contributed to research in topics: Model predictive control & Quadratic programming. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 13 publications receiving 64 citations. Previous affiliations of Abhishek Pandala include University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign & Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

Representation-Free Model Predictive Control for Dynamic Motions in Quadrupeds

Abstract: This paper presents a novel Representation-Free Model Predictive Control (RF-MPC) framework for controlling various dynamic motions of a quadrupedal robot in three dimensional (3D) space. Our formulation directly represents the rotational dynamics using the rotation matrix, which liberates us from the issues associated with the use of Euler angles and quaternion as the orientation representations. With a variation-based linearization scheme and a carefully constructed cost function, the MPC control law is transcribed to the standard Quadratic Program (QP) form. The MPC controller can operate at real-time rates of 250 Hz on a quadruped robot. Experimental results including periodic quadrupedal gaits and a controlled backflip validate that our control strategy could stabilize dynamic motions that involve singularity in 3D maneuvers.

Real-time Model Predictive Control for Versatile Dynamic Motions in Quadrupedal Robots

Abstract: This paper presents a new Model Predictive Control (MPC) framework for controlling various dynamic movements of a quadrupedal robot. System dynamics are represented by linearizing single rigid body dynamics in three-dimensional (3D) space. Our formulation linearizes rotation matrices without resorting to parameterizations like Euler angles and quaternions, avoiding issues of singularity and unwinding phenomenon, respectively. With a carefully chosen configuration error function, the MPC control law is transcribed into a Quadratic Program (QP) which can be solved efficiently in realtime. Our formulation can stabilize a wide range of periodic quadrupedal gaits and acrobatic maneuvers. We show various simulation as well as experimental results to validate our control strategy. Experiments prove the application of this framework with a custom QP solver could reach execution rates of 160 Hz on embedded platforms.

Representation-Free Model Predictive Control for Dynamic Motions in Quadrupeds

Abstract: This article presents a novel representation-free model predictive control (RF-MPC) framework for controlling various dynamic motions of a quadrupedal robot in three-dimensional (3-D) space. Our formulation directly represents the rotational dynamics using the rotation matrix, which liberates us from the issues associated with the use of Euler angles and quaternion as the orientation representations. With a variation-based linearization scheme and a carefully constructed cost function, the MPC control law is transcribed to the standard quadratic program form. The MPC controller can operate at real-time rates of 250 Hz on a quadruped robot. Experimental results including periodic quadrupedal gaits and a controlled backflip validate that our control strategy could stabilize dynamic motions that involve singularity in 3-D maneuvers.

qpSWIFT: A Real-Time Sparse Quadratic Program Solver for Robotic Applications

Abstract: In this letter, we present qpSWIFT, a real-time quadratic program (QP) solver. Motivated by the need for a robust embedded QP solver in robotic applications, qpSWIFT employs standard primal-dual interior-point method, along with Mehrotra predictor–corrector steps and Nesterov–Todd scaling. The sparse structure of the resulting Karush–Kuhn–Tucker linear system in the QP formulation is exploited, and sparse direct methods are utilized to solve the linear system of equations. To further accelerate the factorization process, we only modify the corresponding rows of the matrix factors that change during iterations and cache the nonzero Cholesky pattern. qpSWIFT is library free, written in ANSI-C and its performance is benchmarked through standard problems that could be cast as QP. Numerical results show that qpSWIFT outperforms state-of-the-art solvers for small scale problems. To evaluate the performance of the solver, a real-time implementation of the solver in the model predictive control framework through experiments on a quadrupedal robot are presented.

Quadrupedal Locomotion via Event-Based Predictive Control and QP-Based Virtual Constraints

Abstract: This letter aims to develop a hierarchical nonlinear control algorithm, based on model predictive control (MPC), quadratic programming (QP), and virtual constraints, to generate and stabilize locomotion patterns in a real-time manner for dynamical models of quadrupedal robots. The higher level of the proposed control scheme is developed based on an event-based MPC that computes the optimal center of mass (COM) trajectories for a reduced-order linear inverted pendulum (LIP) model subject to the feasibility of the net ground reaction force (GRF). The asymptotic stability of a desired target point for the reduced-order model under the event-based MPC approach is investigated. It is shown that the event-based nature of the proposed MPC approach can significantly reduce the computational burden associated with the real-time implementation of MPC techniques. To bridge the gap between reduced- and full-order models, QP-based virtual constraint controllers are developed at the lower level of the proposed control scheme to impose the full-order dynamics to track the optimal trajectories while having all individual GRFs in the friction cone. The analytical results of the letter are numerically verified to demonstrate stable and robust locomotion of a 22 degree of freedom quadrupedal robot, in the presence of payloads, external disturbances, ground height variations, and uncertainty in contact models.

acados: a modular open-source framework for fast embedded optimal control

Abstract: This paper presents the acados software package, a collection of solvers for fast embedded optimization intended for fast embedded applications. Its interfaces to higher-level languages make it useful for quickly designing an optimization-based control algorithm by putting together different algorithmic components that can be readily connected and interchanged. Since the core of acados is written on top of a high-performance linear algebra library, we do not sacrifice computational performance. Thus, we aim to provide both flexibility and performance through modularity, without the need to rely on automatic code generation, which facilitates maintainability and extensibility. The main features of acados are: efficient optimal control algorithms targeting embedded devices implemented in C, linear algebra based on the high-performance BLASFEO library, user-friendly interfaces to Matlab and Python, and compatibility with the modeling language of CasADi. acados is free and open-source software released under the permissive BSD 2-Clause license.

High-speed bounding with the MIT Cheetah 2: Control design and experiments

Abstract: This paper presents the design and implementation of a bounding controller for the MIT Cheetah 2 and its experimental results. The paper introduces the architecture of the controller along with the...

Representation-Free Model Predictive Control for Dynamic Motions in Quadrupeds

Abstract: This paper presents a novel Representation-Free Model Predictive Control (RF-MPC) framework for controlling various dynamic motions of a quadrupedal robot in three dimensional (3D) space. Our formulation directly represents the rotational dynamics using the rotation matrix, which liberates us from the issues associated with the use of Euler angles and quaternion as the orientation representations. With a variation-based linearization scheme and a carefully constructed cost function, the MPC control law is transcribed to the standard Quadratic Program (QP) form. The MPC controller can operate at real-time rates of 250 Hz on a quadruped robot. Experimental results including periodic quadrupedal gaits and a controlled backflip validate that our control strategy could stabilize dynamic motions that involve singularity in 3D maneuvers.

Representation-Free Model Predictive Control for Dynamic Motions in Quadrupeds

Abstract: This article presents a novel representation-free model predictive control (RF-MPC) framework for controlling various dynamic motions of a quadrupedal robot in three-dimensional (3-D) space. Our formulation directly represents the rotational dynamics using the rotation matrix, which liberates us from the issues associated with the use of Euler angles and quaternion as the orientation representations. With a variation-based linearization scheme and a carefully constructed cost function, the MPC control law is transcribed to the standard quadratic program form. The MPC controller can operate at real-time rates of 250 Hz on a quadruped robot. Experimental results including periodic quadrupedal gaits and a controlled backflip validate that our control strategy could stabilize dynamic motions that involve singularity in 3-D maneuvers.

qpSWIFT: A Real-Time Sparse Quadratic Program Solver for Robotic Applications

Abstract: In this letter, we present qpSWIFT, a real-time quadratic program (QP) solver. Motivated by the need for a robust embedded QP solver in robotic applications, qpSWIFT employs standard primal-dual interior-point method, along with Mehrotra predictor–corrector steps and Nesterov–Todd scaling. The sparse structure of the resulting Karush–Kuhn–Tucker linear system in the QP formulation is exploited, and sparse direct methods are utilized to solve the linear system of equations. To further accelerate the factorization process, we only modify the corresponding rows of the matrix factors that change during iterations and cache the nonzero Cholesky pattern. qpSWIFT is library free, written in ANSI-C and its performance is benchmarked through standard problems that could be cast as QP. Numerical results show that qpSWIFT outperforms state-of-the-art solvers for small scale problems. To evaluate the performance of the solver, a real-time implementation of the solver in the model predictive control framework through experiments on a quadrupedal robot are presented.