We consider the kinematic model of a vehicle moving forward with a lower bounded turning radius. This model can be used to describe the kinematics of road vehicles as well as aircraft cruising at constant altitude, or sea vessels. We consider the problem of minimizing the length travelled by the vehicle starting from a generic configuration to connect to a specified route. A feedback law is proposed, such that straight routes can be approached optimally, while system is asymptotically stabilized. Experimental results are reported showing real-time feasibility of the approach.

The design of engine control systems has been traditionally carried out using a mix of heuristic techniques validated by simulation and prototyping using approximate average-value models. However, the ever increasing demands on passengers' comfort, safety, emissions, and fuel consumption imposed by car manufacturers and regulations call for more robust techniques and the use of cycle-accurate models. We argue that these models must be hybrid because of the combination of time-domain and event-based behaviors. We present a hybrid model of the engine in which both continuous and discrete time-domain as well as event-based phenomena are modeled in a separate but integrated manner. Based on this model, we formalize the specification of the overall engine control by defining a number of hybrid control problems. To cope with the difficulties arising in the design of hybrid controllers, a design methodology is proposed. This methodology consists of a relaxation of the hybrid problem by simplifying some of its components to obtain a solvable problem,and then deriving a solution to the original control problem by appropriately modifying the control law so obtained to take into consideration the original specifications and models. The effectiveness of this approach is illustrated on three challenging problems: fast force-transient control, cutoff control, and idle speed control.

In this paper we describe an experimental apparatus developed in our laboratory for research and advanced teaching purposes. The device consists of an untethered spherical vehicle that autonomously rolls on the laboratory floor, and can reach arbitrary positions and orientations in the environment. The kinematics of the vehicle are nonholonomic and result from the combination of the kinematics of two classical nonholonomic systems, namely, a unicycle and a plate-ball system. The "SPHERICLE" introduces features that are new with respect to the two systems.

The problem of driving a Dubin's car (1957) along a given path is considered. In order to model a realistic road-following problem, the car is supposed to move forward only and to have bounds on the turning radius (Dubin's car). We propose a discontinuous control scheme on the angular velocity of the vehicle, based on the theory of sliding modes, that achieves the goal of tracking an unknown path relying on measurements of the current distance from the path and of the heading angle error.

In this paper, the analysis of the differential kinematics and manipulability measures of robotic systems comprised of multiple cooperating limbs is considered. The goals of this study can be articulated in four points: 1) to enumerate the degrees of freedom of the manipulation system; 2) to describe analytically all possible first-order differential motions of the system at a given configuration; 3) to evaluate in the velocity domain the functionality of a manipulation system, with respect to the task it is required to perform; and 4) to calculate the bounds for the velocities achievable by the system, given bounds on the capabilities of joint actuators. The assumptions made on the robotic system are quite general, so that many complex devices (e.g., dextrous hands, legged vehicles, whole-arm manipulators, etc.) can be dealt with in a unified and convenient framework.>