Safe and robust robot maneuvers based on reach control

In this paper, we investigate the synthesis of piecewise affine feedback controllers to address the problem of safe and robust controller design in robotics based on high-level controls specifications. The methodology is based on formulating the problem as a collection of reach control problems on a polytopic state space. Reach control has so far only been developed in theory and has not been tested experimentally on a real system before. Using a quadrocopter as our experimental platform, we show that these theoretical tools can achieve fast, albeit safe and robust maneuvers. In contrast to most traditional control techniques, the reach control approach does not require a predefined open-loop reference trajectory or spacial path. Experimental results on a quadrocopter show the effectiveness and robustness of this control approach. In a proof-of-concept demonstration, the reach controller is implemented in one translational direction while the other degrees of freedom are stabilized by separate controllers.