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arXiv · 2610.10987

Constructive Safety-Critical Control for a Class of Underactuated Systems: A Hierarchical Approach

Massimiliano de Sa·Aaron D. Ames
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Abstract

Underactuated systems with nontrivial geometry are abundant in practical robotic problems. However, little is known about constructive safety-critical control design in the presence of underactuation. In this work, we provide a constructive framework for synthesizing safe control architectures and control barrier functions for a class of quadrotor-like underactuated systems. By studying the geometry of their underactuation, we characterize when these systems have natural layered architectures useful for safety-critical control design. Using these architectures, we devise a constructive, hierarchical CBF synthesis procedure and provide conditions under which it succeeds.

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Massimiliano de Sa, Aaron D. Ames. 2026-10-07. Constructive Safety-Critical Control for a Class of Underactuated Systems: A Hierarchical Approach. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.10987

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