Distributed Adaptive Locomotion Learning in ModRED Modular Self-reconfigurable Robot

Ayan Dutta, Prithviraj Dasgupta, Carl Nelson

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

We study the problem of adaptive locomotion learning for modular self-reconfigurable robots (MSRs). MSRs are mostly used in unknown and difficult-to-navigate environments where they can take a completely new shape to accomplish the current task at hand. Therefore it is almost impossible to develop the control sequences for all possible configurations with varying shape and size. The modules have to learn and adapt their locomotion in dynamic time to be more robust in nature. In this paper, we propose a Q-learning based locomotion adaptation strategy which balances exploration versus exploitation in a more sophisticated fashion. We have applied our proposed strategy mainly on the ModRED modular robot within the Webots simulator environment. To show the generalizability of our approach, we have also applied it on a Yamor modular robot. Experimental results show that our proposed technique outperforms a random locomotion strategy and it is able to adapt to module failures.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationSpringer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media B.V.
Pages345-357
Number of pages13
DOIs
StatePublished - 2018

Publication series

NameSpringer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics
Volume6
ISSN (Print)2511-1256
ISSN (Electronic)2511-1264

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Engineering (miscellaneous)
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics

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