Reachability-Guaranteed Optimal Control for the Interception of Dynamic Targets under Uncertainty

Abstract

Intercepting dynamic objects in uncertain environments involves a significant unresolved challenge in modern robotic systems. Current control approaches rely solely on estimated information, and results lack guarantees of robustness and feasibility. In this work, we introduce a novel method to tackle the interception of targets whose motion is affected by known and bounded uncertainty. Our approach introduces new techniques of reachability analysis for rigid bodies, leveraged to guarantee feasibility of interception under uncertain conditions. We then propose a Reachability-Guaranteed Optimal Control Problem, ensuring robustness and guaranteed reachability to a target set of configurations. We demonstrate the methodology in the case study of an interception maneuver of a tumbling target in space.