Abstract: Preference-based reinforcement learning (PBRL) enables policy learning through simple queries comparing trajectories from a single policy. While human responses to these queries make it possible to learn policies aligned with human preferences, PBRL suffers from low query efficiency, as policy bias limits trajectory diversity and reduces the number of … [Read more...] about DAPPER: Discriminability-Aware Policy-to-Policy Preference-Based Reinforcement Learning for Query-Efficient Robot Skill Acquisition
Optimization
Distributed Optimization Methods for Multi-Robot Systems: Part 1—A Tutorial [Tutorial]
Distributed optimization provides a framework for deriving distributed algorithms for a variety of multi-robot problems. This tutorial constitutes the first part of a two-part series on distributed optimization applied to multi-robot problems, which seeks to advance the application of distributed optimization in robotics. In this tutorial, we demonstrate that many canonical … [Read more...] about Distributed Optimization Methods for Multi-Robot Systems: Part 1—A Tutorial [Tutorial]
Open Source Dual-Purpose Acrobot and Pendubot Platform: Benchmarking Control Algorithms for Underactuated Robotics
Recent interest in the control of underactuated robots has surged significantly due to the impressive athletic behaviors shown by robots developed by, e.g., Boston Dynamics ( https://www.bostondynamics.com ), Agility Robotics ( https://agilityrobotics.com/robots ), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [1] . This gives rise to the need for canonical robotic hardware … [Read more...] about Open Source Dual-Purpose Acrobot and Pendubot Platform: Benchmarking Control Algorithms for Underactuated Robotics
Toward Lifelong Learning for Industrial Defect Classification: A Proposed Framework
Automatic defect inspection is an important application for the development of smart factories in the era of Industry 4.0. It gathers data from production lines to train a model to automatically recognize certain types of defects. However, the defect types may vary in the production process, and it is difficult for the old model to adapt to new types of defects directly. … [Read more...] about Toward Lifelong Learning for Industrial Defect Classification: A Proposed Framework
Controlling Maneuverability of a Bio-Inspired Swimming Robot Through Morphological Transformation
Biology provides many examples of how body adaption can be used to achieve a change in functionality. The feather star, an underwater crinoid that uses feather arms to locomote and feed, is one such system; it releases its arms to distract prey and vary its maneuverability to help escape predators. Using this crinoid as inspiration, we develop a robotic system that can alter … [Read more...] about Controlling Maneuverability of a Bio-Inspired Swimming Robot Through Morphological Transformation
