Title
Sample Efficient Learning Of Path Following And Obstacle Avoidance Behavior For Quadrotors
Abstract
In this letter, we propose an algorithm for the training of neural network control policies for quadrotors. The learned control policy computes control commands directly from sensor inputs and is, hence, computationally efficient. An imitation learning algorithm produces a policy that reproduces the behavior of a supervisor. The supervisor provides demonstrations of path following and collision avoidance maneuvers. Due to the generalization ability of neural networks, the resulting policy performs local collision avoidance, while following a global reference path. The algorithm uses a time-free model-predictive path-following controller as a supervisor. The controller generates demonstrations by following few example paths. This enables an easy-to-implement learning algorithm that is robust to errors of the model used in the model-predictive controller. The policy is trained on the real quadrotor, which requires collision-free exploration around the example path. An adapted version of the supervisor is used to enable exploration. Thus, the policy can be trained from a relatively small number of examples on the real quadrotor, making the training sample efficient.
Year
DOI
Venue
2018
10.1109/LRA.2018.2856922
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
Keywords
Field
DocType
Collision avoidance, deep learning in robotics and automation
Small number,Obstacle avoidance,Supervisor,Control theory,Control theory,Path following,Collision,Control engineering,Engineering,Artificial neural network,Trajectory
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
3
4
2377-3766
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
0
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Stefan Stevsic1212.93
Nageli, T.2815.20
Javier Alonso-Mora337534.15
Otmar Hilliges43075140.20