Abstract
Approaches presented herein provide for predictive control of a robot or automated assembly in performing a specific task. A task to be performed may depend on the location and orientation of the robot performing that task. A predictive control system can determine a state of a physical environment at each of a series of time steps, and can select an appropriate location and orientation at each of those time steps. At individual time steps, an optimization process can determine a sequence of future motions or accelerations to be taken that comply with one or more constraints on that motion. For example, at individual time steps, a respective action in the sequence may be performed, then another motion sequence predicted for a next time step, which can help drive robot motion based upon predicted future motion and allow for quick reactions.