Sparse Control for Dynamic Movement Primitives
For robotics researchers, this work offers a method to manage rhythmic behaviors with sparse control inputs, but it is incremental as it builds on existing DMP and contraction theory frameworks.
The paper introduces sparsely-inhibited rhythmic DMPs (SI-RDMPs) to control start-stop transitions in rhythmic primitives, demonstrated in walking experiments with the MIT Cheetah. It also provides new analytical results on coupling oscillators with diverse natural frequencies.
This paper describes the use of spatially-sparse inputs to influence global changes in the behavior of Dynamic Movement Primitives (DMPs). The dynamics of DMPs are analyzed through the framework of contraction theory as networked hierarchies of contracting or transversely contracting systems. Within this framework, sparsely-inhibited rhythmic DMPs (SI-RDMPs) are introduced to both inhibit or enable rhythmic primitives through spatially-sparse modification of the DMP dynamics. SI-RDMPs are demonstrated in experiments to manage start-stop transitions for walking experiments with the MIT Cheetah. New analytical results on the coupling of oscillators with diverse natural frequencies are also discussed.