arXiv subjects

Zehui Lu

Publications and source records attributed to Zehui Lu.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Real-Time Reference Shaping for Servo Systems

This paper addresses real-time motion planning for servo systems subject to nonlinear, state-dependent actuator constraints. A reference reshaping method is proposed that combines analytical optimality with high computational efficiency. Using Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions, the problem structure is explicitly characterized, and it is shown that the optimal solution lies within a finite set of candidate points. The complete solution set is constructed via closed-form expressions and a small-scale eigenvalue problem, yielding a deterministic algorithm that recovers the exact optimal solution without iterative optimization or root-finding. To address kinematic mismatch induced by aggressive commands, a real-time trajectory compensator is introduced to correct accumulated position error while preserving feasibility. Simulation results demonstrate significant computational speed improvements over existing methods, enabling real-time implementation at frequencies approaching 100 kHz.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2026

Amplitude analysis for charmed meson decays at BESIII

Amplitude analysis bridges the gap between experimental measurements of multibody charmed-meson decays and theoretical predictions of intermediate two-body processes. This work presents a comprehensive overview of the amplitude-analysis methodology employed by the BESIII Collaboration, emphasizing practical implementation. We detail the construction of the probability density function and likelihood function for unbinned maximum-likelihood fits. This encompasses Monte Carlo integration techniques for normalization, the incorporation of detection efficiency and resolution effects, and multidimensional background modeling utilizing XGBoost classifiers. Furthermore, we describe the amplitude formalism for both hadronic and semileptonic decays, incorporating standard resonance-propagator parametrizations. Key analytical aspects, including the evaluation of fit fractions, the generation of kinematic projections, and the estimation of statistical uncertainties, are also discussed.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2026

Neural operator learning for collision-aware trajectory planning of spacecraft swarms

Autonomous spacecraft swarms must plan fuel-efficient, collision-free maneuvers in increasingly congested orbits, yet classical trajectory optimization scales poorly as pairwise safety constraints multiply with swarm size, and learning-based planners rarely transfer across swarm sizes or debris densities. Here we introduce a permutation-equivariant neural operator that maps distributions of spacecraft, targets and debris to collision-aware trajectories for an entire swarm in a single forward pass, paired with a batched Gauss-Newton finish that enforces exact orbital dynamics. The operator is trained without optimal-trajectory labels, combining self-supervised physics objectives with adversarial threats generated against its own rollouts. Trained on ten spacecraft, it generalizes zero-shot to swarms of 1,000 amid more than 11,000 catalogued objects, matching a per-agent optimal-control solver's accuracy, evading worst-case threats that a debris-blind baseline cannot, and reducing proximity within the swarm several-fold. Physics-grounded operator learning thus offers a fast, scalable alternative to optimal control for crowded orbits.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2026

Efficient Reinforcement Learning using Linear Koopman Dynamics for Nonlinear Robotic Systems

This paper presents a model-based reinforcement learning (RL) framework for optimal closed-loop control of nonlinear robotic systems. The proposed approach learns linear lifted dynamics through Koopman operator theory and integrates the resulting model into an actor-critic architecture for policy optimization, where the policy represents a parameterized closed-loop controller. To reduce computational cost and mitigate model rollout errors, policy gradients are estimated using one-step predictions of the learned dynamics rather than multi-step propagation. This leads to an online mini-batch policy gradient framework that enables policy improvement from streamed interaction data. The proposed framework is evaluated on several simulated nonlinear control benchmarks and two real-world hardware platforms, including a Kinova Gen3 robotic arm and a Unitree Go1 quadruped. Experimental results demonstrate improved sample efficiency over model-free RL baselines, superior control performance relative to model-based RL baselines, and control performance comparable to classical model-based methods that rely on exact system dynamics.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2026

Online Intention Prediction via Control-Informed Learning

This paper presents an online intention prediction framework for estimating the goal state of autonomous systems in real time, even when intention is time-varying, and system dynamics or objectives include unknown parameters. The problem is formulated as an inverse optimal control / inverse reinforcement learning task, with the intention treated as a parameter in the objective. A shifting horizon strategy discounts outdated information, while online control-informed learning enables efficient gradient computation and online parameter updates. Simulations under varying noise levels and hardware experiments on a quadrotor drone demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves accurate, adaptive intention prediction in complex environments.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2026

Accelerating Sampling-Based Control via Learned Linear Koopman Dynamics

This paper presents an efficient model predictive path integral (MPPI) control framework for systems with complex nonlinear dynamics. To improve the computational efficiency of classic MPPI while preserving control performance, we replace the nonlinear dynamics used for trajectory propagation with a learned linear deep Koopman operator (DKO) model, enabling faster rollout and more efficient trajectory sampling. The DKO dynamics are learned directly from interaction data, eliminating the need for analytical system models. The resulting controller, termed MPPI-DK, is evaluated in simulation on pendulum balancing and surface vehicle navigation tasks, and validated on hardware through reference-tracking experiments on a quadruped robot. Experimental results demonstrate that MPPI-DK achieves control performance close to MPPI with true dynamics while substantially reducing computational cost, enabling efficient real-time control on robotic platforms.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2025

Safe Online Control-Informed Learning

This paper proposes a Safe Online Control-Informed Learning framework for safety-critical autonomous systems. The framework unifies optimal control, parameter estimation, and safety constraints into an online learning process. It employs an extended Kalman filter to incrementally update system parameters in real time, enabling robust and data-efficient adaptation under uncertainty. A softplus barrier function enforces constraint satisfaction during learning and control while eliminating the dependence on high-quality initial guesses. Theoretical analysis establishes convergence and safety guarantees, and the framework's effectiveness is demonstrated on cart-pole and robot-arm systems.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2025

A Control-Barrier-Function-Based Algorithm for Policy Adaptation in Reinforcement Learning

This paper considers the problem of adapting a predesigned policy, represented by a parameterized function class, from a solution that minimizes a given original cost function to a trade-off solution between minimizing the original objective and an additional cost function. The problem is formulated as a constrained optimization problem, where deviations from the optimal value of the original cost are explicitly constrained. To solve it, we develop a closed-loop system that governs the evolution of the policy parameters, with a closed-loop controller designed to adjust the additional cost gradient to ensure the satisfaction of the constraint. The resulting closed-loop system, termed control-barrier-function-based policy adaptation, exploits the set-invariance property of control barrier functions to guarantee constraint satisfaction. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through numerical experiments on the Cartpole and Lunar Lander benchmarks from OpenAI Gym, as well as a quadruped robot, thereby illustrating both its practicality and potential for real-world policy adaptation.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2025

Trajectory Prediction via Bayesian Intention Inference under Unknown Goals and Kinematics

This work introduces an adaptive Bayesian algorithm for real-time trajectory prediction via intention inference, where a target's intentions and motion characteristics are unknown and subject to change. The method concurrently estimates two critical variables: the target's current intention, modeled as a Markovian latent state, and an intention parameter that describes the target's adherence to a shortest-path policy. By integrating this joint update technique, the proposed algorithm maintains robustness against abrupt intention shifts in trajectory prediction and unknown motion dynamics. A sampling-based trajectory prediction mechanism then exploits these adaptive estimates to generate probabilistic forecasts with quantified uncertainty. We validate the algorithm through numerical experiments: Ablation studies of two cases, and a 500-trial Monte Carlo analysis; Hardware demonstrations on quadrotor and quadrupedal platforms. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach significantly outperforms non-adaptive and partially adaptive methods. The method operates in real time around 547 Hz without requiring training or detailed prior knowledge of target behavior, showcasing its applicability in various robotic systems.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2025

Reward-Based Collision-Free Algorithm for Trajectory Planning of Autonomous Robots

This paper proposes a novel mission planning algorithm for autonomous robots that selects an optimal waypoint sequence from a predefined set to maximize total reward while satisfying obstacle avoidance, state, input, derivative, mission time, and distance constraints. The formulation extends the prize-collecting traveling salesman problem. A tailored genetic algorithm evolves candidate solutions using a fitness function, crossover, and mutation, with constraint enforcement via a penalty method. Differential flatness and clothoid curves are employed to penalize infeasible trajectories efficiently, while the Euler spiral method ensures curvature-continuous trajectories with bounded curvature, enhancing dynamic feasibility and mitigating oscillations typical of minimum-jerk and snap parameterizations. Due to the discrete variable length optimization space, crossover is performed using a dynamic time-warping-based method and extended convex combination with projection. The algorithm's performance is validated through simulations and experiments with a ground vehicle, quadrotor, and quadruped, supported by benchmarking and time-complexity analysis.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2024

Distributed Koopman Learning using Partial Trajectories for Control

This paper proposes a distributed data-driven framework for dynamics learning, termed distributed deep Koopman learning using partial trajectories (DDKL-PT). In this framework, each agent in a multi-agent system is assigned a partial trajectory offline and locally approximates the unknown dynamics using a deep neural network within the Koopman operator framework. By exchanging local estimated dynamics rather than training data, agents achieve consensus on a global dynamics model without sharing their private training trajectories. Simulation studies on a surface vehicle demonstrate that DDKL-PT achieves consensus on the learned dynamics, and each agent attains reasonably small approximation errors on the testing dataset. Furthermore, a model predictive control scheme is developed by integrating the learned Koopman dynamics with known kinematic relations. Results on a reference-tracking task indicate that the distributedly learned dynamics are sufficiently accurate for model-based optimal control.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2024

Online Control-Informed Learning

This paper proposes an Online Control-Informed Learning (OCIL) framework, which employs the well-established optimal control and state estimation techniques in the field of control to solve a broad class of learning tasks in an online fashion. This novel integration effectively handles practical issues in machine learning such as noisy measurement data, online learning, and data efficiency. By considering any robot as a tunable optimal control system, we propose an online parameter estimator based on extended Kalman filter (EKF) to incrementally tune the system in an online fashion, enabling it to complete designated learning or control tasks. The proposed method also improves the robustness in learning by effectively managing noise in the data. Theoretical analysis is provided to demonstrate the convergence of OCIL. Three learning modes of OCIL, i.e. Online Imitation Learning, Online System Identification, and Policy Tuning On-the-fly, are investigated via experiments, which validate their effectiveness.

math.OC↗

arXiv2024

Distributed Optimization under Edge Agreement with Application in Battery Network Management

This paper investigates a distributed optimization problem under edge agreements, where each agent in the network is also subject to local convex constraints. Generalized from the concept of consensus, a group of edge agreements represents the constraints defined for neighboring agents, with each pair of neighboring agents required to satisfy one edge agreement constraint. Edge agreements are defined locally to allow more flexibility than a global consensus, enabling heterogeneous coordination within the network. This paper proposes a discrete-time algorithm to solve such problems, providing a theoretical analysis to prove its convergence. Additionally, this paper illustrates the connection between the theory of distributed optimization under edge agreements and distributed model predictive control through a distributed battery network energy management problem. This approach enables a new perspective to formulate and solve network control and optimization problems.

math.OC↗

arXiv2024

A Differentiable Dynamic Modeling Approach to Integrated Motion Planning and Actuator Physical Design for Mobile Manipulators

This paper investigates the differentiable dynamic modeling of mobile manipulators to facilitate efficient motion planning and physical design of actuators, where the actuator design is parameterized by physically meaningful motor geometry parameters. These parameters impact the manipulator's link mass, inertia, center-of-mass, torque constraints, and angular velocity constraints, influencing control authority in motion planning and trajectory tracking control. A motor's maximum torque/speed and how the design parameters affect the dynamics are modeled analytically, facilitating differentiable and analytical dynamic modeling. Additionally, an integrated locomotion and manipulation planning problem is formulated with direct collocation discretization, using the proposed differentiable dynamics and motor parameterization. Such dynamics are required to capture the dynamic coupling between the base and the manipulator. Numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of differentiable dynamics in speeding up optimization and advantages in task completion time and energy consumption over established sequential motion planning approach. Finally, this paper introduces a simultaneous actuator design and motion planning framework, providing numerical results to validate the proposed differentiable modeling approach for co-design problems.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2024

Integrated Optimal Fast Charging and Active Thermal Management of Lithium-Ion Batteries in Extreme Ambient Temperatures

This paper presents an integrated control strategy for optimal fast charging and active thermal management of Lithium-ion batteries in extreme ambient temperatures, striking a balance between charging speed and battery health. A control-oriented thermal-NDC (nonlinear double-capacitor) battery model is proposed to describe the electrical and thermal dynamics, incorporating the effects of both an active thermal source and ambient temperature. A state-feedback model predictive control algorithm is then developed for optimal fast charging and active thermal management. Numerical experiments validate the algorithm under extreme temperatures, showing that the proposed algorithm can energy-efficiently adjust the battery temperature, thereby balancing charging speed and battery health. Additionally, an output-feedback model predictive control algorithm with an extended Kalman filter is proposed for battery charging when states are partially measurable. Numerical experiments validate the effectiveness under extreme temperatures.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2023

Distributed Optimization under Edge Agreements: A Continuous-Time Algorithm

Generalized from the concept of consensus, this paper considers a group of edge agreements, i.e. constraints defined for neighboring agents, in which each pair of neighboring agents is required to satisfy one edge agreement constraint. Edge agreements are defined locally to allow more flexibility than a global consensus. This work formulates a multi-agent optimization problem under edge agreements and proposes a continuous-time distributed algorithm to solve it. Both analytical proof and numerical examples are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

math.OC↗

arXiv2023

Adaptive Policy Learning to Additional Tasks

This paper develops a policy learning method for tuning a pre-trained policy to adapt to additional tasks without altering the original task. A method named Adaptive Policy Gradient (APG) is proposed in this paper, which combines Bellman's principle of optimality with the policy gradient approach to improve the convergence rate. This paper provides theoretical analysis which guarantees the convergence rate and sample complexity of $\mathcal{O}(1/T)$ and $\mathcal{O}(1/\epsilon)$, respectively, where $T$ denotes the number of iterations and $\epsilon$ denotes the accuracy of the resulting stationary policy. Furthermore, several challenging numerical simulations, including cartpole, lunar lander, and robot arm, are provided to show that APG obtains similar performance compared to existing deterministic policy gradient methods while utilizing much less data and converging at a faster rate.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2023

DrMaMP: Distributed Real-time Multi-agent Mission Planning in Cluttered Environment

Solving a collision-aware multi-agent mission planning (task allocation and path finding) problem is challenging due to the requirement of real-time computational performance, scalability, and capability of handling static/dynamic obstacles and tasks in a cluttered environment. This paper proposes a distributed real-time (on the order of millisecond) algorithm DrMaMP, which partitions the entire unassigned task set into subsets via approximation and decomposes the original problem into several single-agent mission planning problems. This paper presents experiments with dynamic obstacles and tasks and conducts optimality and scalability comparisons with an existing method, where DrMaMP outperforms the existing method in both indices. Finally, this paper analyzes the computational burden of DrMaMP which is consistent with the observations from comparisons, and presents the optimality gap in small-size problems.

cs.RO↗