Task flexibility for actuators

1. A method of flexibly controlling a system, comprising:

determining control policies for a system having at least one qualitative goal state;

determining a first current qualitative state of the system; and

generating a qualitative control and state trajectory that enables the system to proceed from the first current qualitative state to the qualitative goal state in the most cost effective and energy efficient manner to conserve power while maintaining any necessary operational constraints on the system.

2. The method as defined in claim 1 , including:

providing a second qualitative state of the system that enables the system to achieve the at least one qualitative goal state if the system is unable to proceed from the first current qualitative state of the system to the qualitative goal state; and

generating a qualitative control and state trajectory that enables the system to proceed from the second qualitative state to the qualitative goal state in the most cost effective manner while maintaining any necessary operational constraints on the system.

3. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein generating the qualitative control and state trajectory includes compensating for system disturbances as the system proceeds from the current qualitative state to the qualitative goal state in the most cost effective manner.

4. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein generating the qualitative control and state trajectory includes temporal constraint techniques utilized to compute flow tubes and provide optimal control policies for achieving the qualitative goal state.

5. The method as defined in claim 4 , wherein the flow tubes provide valid operating regions, each region representing bundles of valid state trajectories that account for one or more dynamic limitations of the system.

6. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the system is a hydraulic system.

7. The method as defined in claim 1 , including at least one mechanism utilized by the system to achieve the at least one qualitative goal state.

8. The method as defined in claim 1 , including multiple mechanisms each having at least one qualitative goal state and including moving less than all of the mechanisms at the same time.

9. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the system operates in real time to achieve the desired goal state.

10. An apparatus capable of implementing flexible task execution, comprising:

at least one mechanism;

a power source capable of providing power to the mechanism; and

means for operating the mechanism and the power source according to control policies having at least one qualitative state goal for the mechanism and for generating a qualitative control and state trajectory that enables the mechanism to proceed to the qualitative state goal in the most cost effective and energy efficient manner to conserve power while maintaining any necessary operational constraints on the apparatus.

11. The apparatus as defined in claim 10 , wherein the means for operating includes compensating for disturbances as the mechanism proceeds to the goal state in the most cost effective manner.

12. The apparatus as defined in claim 10 , wherein the means for operating includes temporal constraint techniques utilized to compute flow tubes and provide optimal control policies for achieving the goal state.

13. The apparatus as defined in claim 12 , wherein the flow tubes provide valid operating regions, each region representing bundles of valid state trajectories that account for one or more dynamic limitations of the mechanism.

14. The apparatus as defined in claim 10 , wherein the apparatus is a hydraulic apparatus, the mechanism includes at least one hydraulic actuator and the power source is a hydraulic pump.

15. The apparatus as defined in claim 10 , including two or more mechanisms each having at least one qualitative goal state where the means for operating is capable of moving less than all of the mechanisms at the same time.