36,424 research outputs found
Lifelong Federated Reinforcement Learning: A Learning Architecture for Navigation in Cloud Robotic Systems
This paper was motivated by the problem of how to make robots fuse and
transfer their experience so that they can effectively use prior knowledge and
quickly adapt to new environments. To address the problem, we present a
learning architecture for navigation in cloud robotic systems: Lifelong
Federated Reinforcement Learning (LFRL). In the work, We propose a knowledge
fusion algorithm for upgrading a shared model deployed on the cloud. Then,
effective transfer learning methods in LFRL are introduced. LFRL is consistent
with human cognitive science and fits well in cloud robotic systems.
Experiments show that LFRL greatly improves the efficiency of reinforcement
learning for robot navigation. The cloud robotic system deployment also shows
that LFRL is capable of fusing prior knowledge. In addition, we release a cloud
robotic navigation-learning website based on LFRL
Bioinspired engineering of exploration systems for NASA and DoD
A new approach called bioinspired engineering of exploration systems (BEES) and its value for solving pressing NASA and DoD needs are described. Insects (for example honeybees and dragonflies) cope remarkably well with their world, despite possessing a brain containing less than 0.01% as many neurons as the human brain. Although most insects have immobile eyes with fixed focus optics and lack stereo vision, they use a number of ingenious, computationally simple strategies for perceiving their world in three dimensions and navigating successfully within it. We are distilling selected insect-inspired strategies to obtain novel solutions for navigation, hazard avoidance, altitude hold, stable flight, terrain following, and gentle deployment of payload. Such functionality provides potential solutions for future autonomous robotic space and planetary explorers. A BEES approach to developing lightweight low-power autonomous flight systems should be useful for flight control of such biomorphic flyers for both NASA and DoD needs. Recent biological studies of mammalian retinas confirm that representations of multiple features of the visual world are systematically parsed and processed in parallel. Features are mapped to a stack of cellular strata within the retina. Each of these representations can be efficiently modeled in semiconductor cellular nonlinear network (CNN) chips. We describe recent breakthroughs in exploring the feasibility of the unique blending of insect strategies of navigation with mammalian visual search, pattern recognition, and image understanding into hybrid biomorphic flyers for future planetary and terrestrial applications. We describe a few future mission scenarios for Mars exploration, uniquely enabled by these newly developed biomorphic flyers
Tightly Coupled GNSS and Vision Navigation for Unmanned Air Vehicle Applications
This paper explores the unique benefits that can be obtained from a tight integration of a GNSS sensor and a forward-looking vision sensor. The motivation of this research is the belief that both GNSS and vision will be integral features of future UAV avionics architectures, GNSS for basic aircraft navigation and vision for obstacle-aircraft collision avoidance. The paper will show that utilising basic single-antenna GNSS measurements and observables, along with aircraft information derived from optical flow techniques creates unique synergies. Results of the accuracy of attitude estimates will be presented, based a comprehensive Matlab® Simulink® model which re-creates an optical flow stream based on the flight of an aircraft. This paper establishes the viability of this novel integrated GNSS/Vision approach for use as the complete UAV sensor package, or as a backup sensor for an inertial navigation system
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