Safety-Critical Kinematic Control of Robotic Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel safety-critical control framework for robotic systems by extending control barrier functions to kinematic equations, ensuring safety through velocity-based and energy-incorporating formulations, demonstrated on simulated robotic platforms.

Contribution

It develops a new safety-critical control paradigm for kinematic robotic control by extending control barrier functions to include energy considerations, applicable to underactuated systems.

Findings

Successfully implemented in simulation on a 6-DOF manipulator

Validated safety guarantees for cart-pole system

Reduced model dependence and conservativeness in safety control

Abstract

Over the decades, kinematic controllers have proven to be practically useful for applications like set-point and trajectory tracking in robotic systems. To this end, we formulate a novel safety-critical paradigm for kinematic control in this paper. In particular, we extend the methodology of control barrier functions (CBFs) to kinematic equations governing robotic systems. We demonstrate a purely kinematic implementation of a velocity-based CBF, and subsequently introduce a formulation that guarantees safety at the level of dynamics. This is achieved through a new form CBFs that incorporate kinetic energy with the classical forms, thereby minimizing model dependence and conservativeness. The approach is then extended to underactuated systems. This method and the purely kinematic implementation are demonstrated in simulation on two robotic platforms: a 6-DOF robotic manipulator, and a cart-pole system.