Energy shaping for coordinating internally actuated vehicles

Controlling Minimally-Actuated Vehicles

Establishing a persistent presence in the ocean with an AUV to observe temporal variability of large-scale ocean processes requires a unique sensor platform. In this paper, we propose a strategy that utilizes ocean model predictions to increase the autonomy and control of Lagrangian or profiling floats for precisely this purpose. An A* planner is applied to a local controllability map generated...

A Vehicle Following Controller for Highly-Actuated Vehicles

This work is concerned with the design and validation of a vehicle following controller (VFC). The goal of the VFC is to determine appropriate control actions for a highly-actuated electric vehicle such that the longitudinal and lateral motion of a target vehicle is followed. To achieve this goal, a combination of a non-linear guidance law and a model-predictive method is explored. The proposed...

4 Energy Supply Coordinating

Design, Control, and Experimentation of Internally-Actuated Rovers for the Exploration of Low-Gravity Planetary Bodies

In this paper we discuss the design, control, and experimentation of internally-actuated rovers for the exploration of low-gravity (micro-g to milli-g) planetary bodies, such as asteroids, comets, or small moons. The actuation of the rover relies on spinning three internal flywheels, which allows all subsystems to be packaged in one sealed enclosure and enables the platform to be minimalistic, ...

Contact Dynamics of Internally-Actuated Platforms for the Exploration of Small Solar System Bodies

Directed in-situ science and exploration on the surface of small Solar System bodies requires controlled mobility. In the microgravity environment of small bodies such as asteroids, comets or small moons, the low gravitational and frictional forces at the surface make typical wheeled rovers ine↵ective. Through a joint collaboration, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory together with Stanford Universit...