Adaptive Control

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Overview

Adaptive control studies how controllers can estimate changing system dynamics or disturbances and adjust actions during operation, rather than relying on a fixed model. Common approaches include recursive least squares and disturbance observers, neural or Gaussian-process residual models, gain scheduling, and reinforcement-learning or meta-learned policies, often combined with model-predictive control, iterative learning, and Lyapunov or control-barrier safety filters. Work spans manipulators, quadrotors, autonomous vehicles, spacecraft, soft robots, and human-robot systems, tested in simulation and hardware under payload changes, friction, wind, actuator faults, contact, and distribution shifts. A central challenge is balancing fast, efficient adaptation against stability, constraint satisfaction, limited safe exploration, and robustness when learned models or policies are wrong.

Latest papers

CardsList

148 papers22 papers in the last four weeks, up 22% on the four weeks before. 0.1% of all new papers.

  1. A Continual Learning Framework for Adaptive Control of Modular Soft Robots

    Jul 7, 2026Nilay Kushawaha, Muhammad Sunny Nazeer, Baljinder Singh Bal +2Continual Robot LearningContinuum Robot Control

    1The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, 56024, Pontedera, Italy · Department of Excellence in Robotics and AI, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, 56127, Pisa, Italy · Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 119077, Singapore +1

  2. Verification of Adaptive Agentic Controllers through Finite Rule Revision

    Jul 7, 2026Roberto GarroneAgent Failure AnalysisFormal Verification

    Open University of Cyprus

  3. DexTele: A Dual-Arm Dexterous Teleoperation System Based on Motion Retargeting and Adaptive Force Control

    Jul 7, 2026Yuanchuan Lai, Qing Gao, Ziyan Liang +3Bimanual Robotic ManipulationRobot Teleoperation

    School of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China · School of Artificial Intelligence, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518172, China · School of Computing, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 3HE, UK

  4. FLOAT Drone for Physical Interaction: Lateral Airflow Reduction, Wrench Modeling, and Adaptive Control

    Jul 5, 2026Junxiao Lin, Kehan Zhou, Shuhang Ji +4Aerial RoboticsAdaptive Control

    Institute of Cyber-Systems and Control, College of Control Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China · Differential Robotics Technology Company, Hangzhou 311100, China

  5. QuadRocket: An Aerial Robotic Testbed for Adaptive Thrust-Vector Control of Rocket-Like Vehicles

    Jul 2, 2026Pedro Santos, Joel Reis, Paulo Oliveira +1Backstepping ControlRobot Trajectory Tracking

    Instituto Superior T´ecnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal · Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Taipa, Macao, China

  6. Influence of Radial Basis Activation Functions on Intelligent Controller for Robotic Manipulators

    Jul 2, 2026Kimmo Paldanius, Gabriel Da Silva Lima, Wallace Moreira BessaRobotic ControlRobot Trajectory Tracking

    Smart Systems Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Turku, 20520, Finland.

  7. AD-MPCC: Adaptive Differentiable Model Predictive Contouring Control for Autonomous Racing

    Jun 30, 2026Nam T. Nguyen, Binh Nguyen, Ahmad Amine +3Model Predictive ControlNonlinear MPC

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA. · Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. · CTI Lab4EV, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Hanoi 100000, Vietnam.

  8. Stabilization Learning: A Paradigm Transition Bridging Control Theory and Machine Learning

    Jun 30, 2026Quan QuanRL StabilityAdaptive Control

    School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China · Tianmushan Laboratory, Beihang University, Hangzhou 311115, China · Zhongguancun Academy, Beijing 100094, China

  9. Machine Learning-based Feedback Linearization Control of Quadrotor Subject to Unmodeled Dynamics

    Jun 30, 2026Amos Alwala, Gabriel da Silva Lima, Wallace Moreira BessaRobot Trajectory TrackingFeedback Control

    Smart Systems, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Technology, University of Turku, 20520 Turku, Finland.

  10. When Regulation Has Memory: Hysteresis and Control Burden in Artificial Agency

    Jun 29, 2026Veronique ZieglerFeedback ControlAdaptive Control

    Independent Researcher

  11. Resilient Output Containment under Undisclosed Leader Dynamics and Actuator Attacks

    Jun 25, 2026Mohammadreza Nematollahi, Khashayar Khorasani, Nader MeskinCyber-Physical SystemsMulti-Agent Control

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. · Department of Electrical Engineering, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.

  12. Morphology-Specific Closed-Loop Control of Logarithmic-Spiral Continuum Arms via Online Jacobian Error Compensation

    Jun 24, 2026Partha Datta, Yi Jin, Wei Lin +1Robotic ControlRobot Trajectory Tracking

    Laboratory for Soft Machines and Electronics, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA · Department of Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA · Laboratory for Soft Machines and Electronics, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA +3

  13. Learning to Adapt: Reptile-D-Learning for Robust and Efficient Control Under Parametric Uncertainty

    Jun 24, 2026Haipeng Cao, Zhaolong Shen, Quan QuanLyapunov-Based ControlRobust Control

    School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, P.R. China

  14. What Actually Works for Spacecraft Fault-Tolerant Control: An Honest Settled-Gate Benchmark of Learned and Classical Methods

    Jun 24, 2026Alireza ShojaeiSafety-Critical ControlRobust Control

    Myers-Lawson School of Construction, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA

  15. Conformal Recovery-Deadline Certificates for Runtime Assurance of Adapting Controllers

    Jun 24, 2026Alireza ShojaeiSafety-Critical ControlConformal Prediction

    Myers-Lawson School of Construction, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA

  16. Reliability-Asymmetric Spacecraft Autonomy: Co-Designing a Capable Learned GNC Stack with a Verified, Adaptation-Aware Runtime Shield

    Jun 24, 2026Alireza ShojaeiLanguage Model-Based ControlFormal Verification

    Myers-Lawson School of Construction, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA

  17. Topological Online Learning for Displacement-based Formation Control

    Jun 22, 2026Saksham Sharma, Shubhankar Gupta, Sumant A Gunagi +1Multi-Robot Formation ControlRobust Control

    ArtGarage, Indian Institute of Science, India · Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, India

  18. Deep RL- Tuned Mo del-Free Adaptive Control for Lower-Limb Exoskeletons During Sit-to-Stand Transitions

    Jun 20, 2026Ranjeet Kumbhar, Appaso M. Gadade, Rajmeet Singh +2RL ControlRobot Trajectory Tracking

    Department of Computer Science and Engineering Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology Patiala, India – 147004 · Department of Mechanical Engineering Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology Patiala, India – 147004 · Mechatronics Engineer, Research Office Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) Abu Dhabi, UAE

  19. Machine-Coached Policy Revision in Adaptive Agent-Based Regulatory Simulation: A Controller-Level Contestability Layer

    Jun 15, 2026Roberto GarroneExplainable Artificial IntelligenceAlgorithmic Accountability

    Open University of Cyprus

  20. APEX: Adaptive Policy Execution for Precise Manipulation

    Jun 15, 2026Mengfei Zhao, Chenxi Jiang, Tuo An +2Robotic ManipulationAdaptive Control

    1MARS Lab, Nanyang Technological University

  21. Structural Distinguishability of Static and Adaptive Policy Regimes in Agent-Based Regulatory Simulation

    Jun 15, 2026Roberto GarroneAgent-Based ModelingAdaptive Control

    Open University of Cyprus, Nicosia

  22. Data-driven Control with Real-time Uncertainty Compensation for Multi-Fuel Engines

    Jun 15, 2026Rajasree Sarkar, Arunava Banerjee, Sathya Aswath Govind Raju +4Robust ControlFeedback Control

    aDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. · bDEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA, 21005.

  23. Learning Context-Aware Neural ODE Dynamics for Adaptive Robotic Control

    Jun 13, 2026Shao-Yi Yu, Jen-Wei Wang, Maya Horii +2Robot Dynamics IdentificationRobot Dynamics Learning

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA · Aalto University and YaiYai Ltd, Finland

  24. Learning Dynamic Swing-Up of an Inverted Pendulum using Remote Magnetic Actuation

    Jun 11, 2026Viacheslav Sydora, Jasan Zughaibi, Denis von Arx +2Robotic ControlIterative Learning Control

    Learning and Dynamical Systems, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen, Germany · Multi-Scale Robotics Lab, Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, D-MAVT, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland · Medical Robotics Lab, Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, D-MAVT, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

  25. Efficient Domain-Adaptive Policy Learning via Kernel Representation with Application to Quadrotor Control under Non-Stationary Disturbances

    Jun 11, 2026Hongyu Zhou, Mingtian Tan, Vasileios TzoumasQuadrotor ControlAdaptive Control

    University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

  26. An integrated interpretable control effectiveness learning and nonlinear control allocation methodology for overactuated aircraft

    Jun 11, 2026Umut Demir, Aamir Ahmad, Torbjørn Cunis +1Online System IdentificationFeedback Control

    University of Stuttgart, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and Geodesy, Institute of Flight Mechanics and Control (iFR), Germany.

  27. Mahalanobis-Guided Latent OOD Detection for Hybrid ES-DRL Control in Time-Varying Systems

    Jun 9, 2026Shaifalee Saxena, Alexander ScheinkerRL ControlFeedback Control

    Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA · University of New Mexico, New Mexico, USA

  28. On-sky demonstration of reinforcement learning for adaptive optics control

    Jun 9, 2026Jalo Nousiainen, Vincent Chambouleyron, Benoit Neichel +7RL ControlReinforcement Learning

    European Southern Observatory · Aix Marseille University, CNRS, CNES, LAM, Marseille, France · Wakea Consulting, 4 Rue Joseph Bouchayer, 38100 Grenoble +1

  29. Preserving Full 6-DOF Actuation Under Abrupt Total Rotor Failures: Passive Fault-Tolerant Flight Control Using a Biaxial-Tilt Hexacopter

    Jun 4, 2026Yipeng Yang, Yiqiao Tang, Hao Zhang +6Aerial RoboticsRobot Failure Recovery

  30. Adaptive PD Gains for Energy-Conscious Control in Physical Human-Robot Interaction

    May 30, 2026Danyal Saqib, Francisco Andrade Chavez, Marie CharbonneauRobotic ControlHuman-Robot Interaction

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada · Department of Engineering Thompson Rivers University Kamloops, Canada · Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering University of Calgary Calgary, Canada