Online Deep Learning for Improved Trajectory Tracking of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Using Expert Knowledge

This work presents an online learning-based control method for improved trajectory tracking of unmanned aerial vehicles using both deep learning and expert knowledge. The proposed method does not require the exact model of the system to be controlled, and it is robust against variations in system dynamics as well as operational uncertainties. The learning is divided into two phases: offline (pre-)training and online (post-)training. In the former, a conventional controller performs a set of trajectories and, based on the input-output dataset, the deep neural network (DNN)-based controller is trained. In the latter, the trained DNN, which mimics the conventional controller, controls the system. Unlike the existing papers in the literature, the network is still being trained for different sets of trajectories which are not used in the training phase of DNN. Thanks to the rule-base, which contains the expert knowledge, the proposed framework learns the system dynamics and operational uncertainties in real-time. The experimental results show that the proposed online learning-based approach gives better trajectory tracking performance when compared to the only offline trained network.Comment: corrected version accepted for ICRA 201

DPC-Net: Deep Pose Correction for Visual Localization

We present a novel method to fuse the power of deep networks with the computational efficiency of geometric and probabilistic localization algorithms. In contrast to other methods that completely replace a classical visual estimator with a deep network, we propose an approach that uses a convolutional neural network to learn difficult-to-model corrections to the estimator from ground-truth training data. To this end, we derive a novel loss function for learning SE(3) corrections based on a matrix Lie groups approach, with a natural formulation for balancing translation and rotation errors. We use this loss to train a Deep Pose Correction network (DPC-Net) that predicts corrections for a particular estimator, sensor and environment. Using the KITTI odometry dataset, we demonstrate significant improvements to the accuracy of a computationally-efficient sparse stereo visual odometry pipeline, that render it as accurate as a modern computationally-intensive dense estimator. Further, we show how DPC-Net can be used to mitigate the effect of poorly calibrated lens distortion parameters.Comment: In IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L) and presented at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA'18), Brisbane, Australia, May 21-25, 201

How to Train a CAT: Learning Canonical Appearance Transformations for Direct Visual Localization Under Illumination Change

Direct visual localization has recently enjoyed a resurgence in popularity with the increasing availability of cheap mobile computing power. The competitive accuracy and robustness of these algorithms compared to state-of-the-art feature-based methods, as well as their natural ability to yield dense maps, makes them an appealing choice for a variety of mobile robotics applications. However, direct methods remain brittle in the face of appearance change due to their underlying assumption of photometric consistency, which is commonly violated in practice. In this paper, we propose to mitigate this problem by training deep convolutional encoder-decoder models to transform images of a scene such that they correspond to a previously-seen canonical appearance. We validate our method in multiple environments and illumination conditions using high-fidelity synthetic RGB-D datasets, and integrate the trained models into a direct visual localization pipeline, yielding improvements in visual odometry (VO) accuracy through time-varying illumination conditions, as well as improved metric relocalization performance under illumination change, where conventional methods normally fail. We further provide a preliminary investigation of transfer learning from synthetic to real environments in a localization context. An open-source implementation of our method using PyTorch is available at https://github.com/utiasSTARS/cat-net.Comment: In IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L) and presented at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA'18), Brisbane, Australia, May 21-25, 201

Multi-Robot Transfer Learning: A Dynamical System Perspective

Multi-robot transfer learning allows a robot to use data generated by a second, similar robot to improve its own behavior. The potential advantages are reducing the time of training and the unavoidable risks that exist during the training phase. Transfer learning algorithms aim to find an optimal transfer map between different robots. In this paper, we investigate, through a theoretical study of single-input single-output (SISO) systems, the properties of such optimal transfer maps. We first show that the optimal transfer learning map is, in general, a dynamic system. The main contribution of the paper is to provide an algorithm for determining the properties of this optimal dynamic map including its order and regressors (i.e., the variables it depends on). The proposed algorithm does not require detailed knowledge of the robots' dynamics, but relies on basic system properties easily obtainable through simple experimental tests. We validate the proposed algorithm experimentally through an example of transfer learning between two different quadrotor platforms. Experimental results show that an optimal dynamic map, with correct properties obtained from our proposed algorithm, achieves 60-70% reduction of transfer learning error compared to the cases when the data is directly transferred or transferred using an optimal static map.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted at the 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and System

Knowledge Transfer Between Robots with Similar Dynamics for High-Accuracy Impromptu Trajectory Tracking

In this paper, we propose an online learning approach that enables the inverse dynamics model learned for a source robot to be transferred to a target robot (e.g., from one quadrotor to another quadrotor with different mass or aerodynamic properties). The goal is to leverage knowledge from the source robot such that the target robot achieves high-accuracy trajectory tracking on arbitrary trajectories from the first attempt with minimal data recollection and training. Most existing approaches for multi-robot knowledge transfer are based on post-analysis of datasets collected from both robots. In this work, we study the feasibility of impromptu transfer of models across robots by learning an error prediction module online. In particular, we analytically derive the form of the mapping to be learned by the online module for exact tracking, propose an approach for characterizing similarity between robots, and use these results to analyze the stability of the overall system. The proposed approach is illustrated in simulation and verified experimentally on two different quadrotors performing impromptu trajectory tracking tasks, where the quadrotors are required to accurately track arbitrary hand-drawn trajectories from the first attempt.Comment: European Control Conference (ECC) 201