Advances in Robust, Intelligent and Optimal Control of Autonomous Systems with a Focus on Unmanned Vehicles and Robots

Autonomous systems, especially systems working outdoors such as AUVs, UAVs, and mobile robots often have uncertainties and encounter external disturbances in their working environments. The uncertainties can be the changing in their masses or the variant of internal parameters. The external disturbances can be obstacles, wind, waves, currents, or any other static or dynamic factors that interfere with or change the nominal conditions of the autonomous systems. Without proper reactions or optimal control laws, the systems may fail to perform their tasks, or they may operate in unoptimized manners that lead to consuming more energy or time. Realization of the disturbances to drive the systems overcoming the interferences and instabilities to remain reliable and productive is key, and is what the researchers aim to address in this collection.

This Research Topic proposes recent advanced approaches to robustly control autonomous systems with a focus on AUVs, UAVs, and robots. With recent developments in computer sciences, new hardware, software, and algorithms have been developed to be more powerful to support control engineers. In particular, artificial intelligence is playing an important role in supporting designers to overcome boundaries and limits, allowing control engineering to reach new advanced levels. However, new demands arise, and control objectives in this modern time are also more challenging. Therefore, authors are encouraged to introduce recent advanced techniques including algorithms, software, hardware, etc., to control the autonomous systems with excellent performance, high robustness, and optimal objectives in both nominal conditions and in the harsh conditions with the existences of uncertainties and external disturbances.

This Research Topic welcomes original research highlighting the advances in control of autonomous systems such as AUVs, UAVs, and robots. The potential topics include, but are not limited to:

- Robust control;
- Optimal control;
- Intelligent control and navigation;
- Swarms of autonomous vehicles, multiple vehicle mission control, and planning;
- Path following, path optimization and planning, and automatic collision avoidance;
- Applications of artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning (ML) in autonomous systems.

We look forward to receiving your contributions to bring together the latest developments in this area within this Research Topic.

Keywords: Robust control, intelligent control, optimal control, autonomous systems, robotics

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.