US 12,282,311 B2
System and method for controlling an operation of a machine according to a task
Arvind Raghunathan, Medford, MA (US)
Assigned to Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc., Cambridge, MA (US)
Filed by Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc., Cambridge, MA (US)
Filed on Sep. 23, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/934,826.
Prior Publication US 2024/0118677 A1, Apr. 11, 2024
Int. Cl. G05B 19/4155 (2006.01)
CPC G05B 19/4155 (2013.01) [G05B 2219/41406 (2013.01)] 23 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A controller for controlling an operation of a machine according to a task, the controller comprising: a memory configured to store executable instructions; and a processor configured to execute the executable instructions to cause the controller to:
collect a feedback signal indicative of a current state of the operation of the machine;
formulate an original quadratic program (QP) for optimizing an objective function subject to equality constraints and inequality constraints on one or a combination of state and control variables of the machine based on the task and the current state of the operation of the machine;
lift the equality constraints and the inequality constraints into a lifted space having a dimension higher than a dimension of an original space of the original QP by a lifting operation introducing an additional non-negative variable such that a subspace defined by the equality constraints in the lifted space intersects a subspace defined by the inequality constraints in the lifted space at least at a point of origin of the lifted space;
transform the objective function of the original QP into a quadratic objective function involving variables of the original QP and the additional non-negative variable, wherein the quadratic objective function subject to the lifted equality and inequality constraints forms a homogeneous QP in the lifted space such that first-order optimality conditions of the homogeneous QP correspond to first-order optimality conditions of the original QP lifted in the higher space by the lifting operation;
solve the homogeneous QP to produce a solution in the lifted space;
control the machine according to an infeasibility protocol when a value of the additional non-negative variable in the solution in the lifted space equals zero; and otherwise
project the solution in the lifted space into the original space using a projection operation reversing the lifting operation to produce a solution of the original QP; and
control the machine using a control command determined based on the solution of the original QP.