English

Denoising Diffusion Planner: Learning Complex Paths from Low-Quality Demonstrations

Robotics 2024-11-18 v2

Abstract

Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models (DDPMs) are powerful generative deep learning models that have been very successful at image generation, and, very recently, in path planning and control. In this paper, we investigate how to leverage the generalization and conditional sampling capabilities of DDPMs to generate complex paths for a robotic end effector. We show that training a DDPM with synthetic and low-quality demonstrations is sufficient for generating nontrivial paths reaching arbitrary targets and avoiding obstacles. Additionally, we investigate different strategies for conditional sampling combining classifier-free and classifier-guided approaches. Eventually, we deploy the DDPM in a receding-horizon control scheme to enhance its planning capabilities. The Denoising Diffusion Planner is experimentally validated through various experiments on a Franka Emika Panda robot.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2410.21497,
  title  = {Denoising Diffusion Planner: Learning Complex Paths from Low-Quality Demonstrations},
  author = {Michiel Nikken and Nicolò Botteghi and Wesley Roozing and Federico Califano},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2410.21497},
  year   = {2024}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T19:38:48.171Z