Control-Limited Differential Dynamic Programming

Abstract—We describe a generalization of the Differential Dynamic Programming trajectory optimization algorithm which accommodates box inequality constraints on the controls, without significantly sacrificing convergence quality or computational effort. To this effect we describe an efficient Quadratic Pro-gramming sub-algorithm which benefits from warm starts and provides explicit Hessian factors. We demonstrate our algorithm on three simulated problems, including a 28-DoF grasping problem. Simple cost terms were sufficient to generate highly dexterous and agile grasping behaviors. A movie of the grasping results can be found here goo.gl/GlM8h I