Safe Control of Euler-Lagrange Systems with Limited Model Information

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel safe control framework for Euler-Lagrange systems that operates effectively with limited model information, ensuring safety through barrier functions and decomposition into subsystems.

Contribution

It proposes a new safe control approach that requires less model information and guarantees safety using barrier Lyapunov and control barrier functions.

Findings

Ensures bounded velocity tracking error with adaptive barrier Lyapunov functions.

Guarantees controlled invariance of the safe set in joint or task space.

Validated effectiveness through simulation results.

Abstract

This paper presents a new safe control framework for Euler-Lagrange (EL) systems with limited model information, external disturbances, and measurement uncertainties. The EL system is decomposed into two subsystems called the proxy subsystem and the virtual tracking subsystem. An adaptive safe controller based on barrier Lyapunov functions is designed for the virtual tracking subsystem to ensure the boundedness of the safe velocity tracking error, and a safe controller based on control barrier functions is designed for the proxy subsystem to ensure controlled invariance of the safe set defined either in the joint space or task space. Theorems that guarantee the safety of the proposed controllers are provided. In contrast to existing safe control strategies for EL systems, the proposed method requires much less model information and can ensure safety rather than input-to-state safety. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.