Learning Input-Constrained Funnel Controllers from State Trajectory Data

Abstract

Designing feedback controllers that satisfy predefined performance specifications while enforcing hard input constraints is a challenging task. Our work is motivated by the idea that state trajectory data, e.g., obtained from an expert controller, often implicitly encode feasible performance attributes and input limitations. We propose an optimization-based framework that uses state trajectory data to jointly learn: (i) a performance funnel that mimics the transient and steady-state behavior encoded within the observed trajectories, and (ii) a feedback controller that enforces the learned performance specifications under hard input constraints. Unlike imitation learning methods, the proposed approach does not rely on control input data and does not reconstruct an expert policy. Instead, it synthesizes a prescribed performance controller by combining nominal model compensation with a learned state-dependent feedback gain. The resulting synthesis problem is nonconvex, for which we develop a feasibility-driven active-set synthesis procedure. Finally, we establish two complementary guarantees: a semi-global conservative actuator-authority-based certificate for prescribed performance and input satisfaction, and a local data-driven certificate ensuring these properties near sufficiently dense demonstrated trajectories.