Title: Pseudospectral Model Predictive Control under Partially Learned Dynamics,
Abstract: Trajectory optimization of a controlled dynamical system is an essential part
of autonomy, however many trajectory optimization techniques are limited by the
fidelity of the underlying parametric model. In the field of robotics, a lack
of model knowledge can be overcome with machine learning techniques, utilizing
measurements to build a dynamical model from the data. This paper aims to take
the middle ground between these two approaches by introducing a semi-parametric
representation of the underlying system dynamics. Our goal is to leverage the
considerable information contained in a traditional physics based model and
combine it with a data-driven, non-parametric regression technique known as a
Gaussian Process. Integrating this semi-parametric model with model predictive
pseudospectral control, we demonstrate this technique on both a cart pole and
quadrotor simulation with unmodeled damping and parametric error. In order to
manage parametric uncertainty, we introduce an algorithm that utilizes Sparse
Spectrum Gaussian Processes (SSGP) for online learning after each rollout. We
implement this online learning technique on a cart pole and quadrator, then
demonstrate the use of online learning and obstacle avoidance for the dubin
vehicle dynamics.