Related papers: Model-Free versus Model-Based Reinforcement Learni…
Modeling and control of nonlinear dynamics are critical in robotics, especially in scenarios with unpredictable external influences and complex dynamics. Traditional cascaded modular control pipelines often yield suboptimal performance due…
Autonomous fixed-wing flight is becoming a key capability in aerial robotics, enabling sensing, mobility, and contingency operations across both small-scale Uncrewed Aircraft Systems and large-scale Advanced Air Mobility. During unpowered…
Training sophisticated agents for optimal decision-making under uncertainty has been key to the rapid development of modern autonomous systems across fields. Notably, model-free reinforcement learning (RL) has enabled decision-making agents…
We explore the reinforcement learning approach to designing controllers by extensively discussing the case of a quadcopter attitude controller. We provide all details allowing to reproduce our approach, starting with a model of the dynamics…
Autopilot systems are typically composed of an "inner loop" providing stability and control, while an "outer loop" is responsible for mission-level objectives, e.g. way-point navigation. Autopilot systems for UAVs are predominately…
While deep reinforcement learning (RL) methods have achieved unprecedented successes in a range of challenging problems, their applicability has been mainly limited to simulation or game domains due to the high sample complexity of the…
Model-Based Reinforcement Learning involves learning a \textit{dynamics model} from data, and then using this model to optimise behaviour, most often with an online \textit{planner}. Much of the recent research along these lines presents a…
Model-based control requires an accurate model of the system dynamics for precisely and safely controlling the robot in complex and dynamic environments. Moreover, in the presence of variations in the operating conditions, the model should…
We investigate robust model-free reinforcement learning algorithms designed for environments that may be dynamic or even adversarial. Traditional state-based policies often struggle to accommodate the challenges imposed by the presence of…
Unsteady aerodynamic effects can have a profound impact on aerial vehicle flight performance, especially during agile maneuvers and in complex aerodynamic environments. In this paper, we present a real-time planning and control approach…
Model-reference adaptive systems refer to a consortium of techniques that guide plants to track desired reference trajectories. Approaches based on theories like Lyapunov, sliding surfaces, and backstepping are typically employed to advise…
Autonomous unpowered flight is a challenge for control and guidance systems: all the energy the aircraft might use during flight has to be harvested directly from the atmosphere. We investigate the design of an algorithm that optimizes the…
There is a widespread intuition that model-based control methods should be able to surpass the data efficiency of model-free approaches. In this paper we attempt to evaluate this intuition on various challenging locomotion tasks. We take a…
Model-based reinforcement learning has the potential to be more sample efficient than model-free approaches. However, existing model-based methods are vulnerable to model bias, which leads to poor generalization and asymptotic performance…
In this paper, a review of model-free reinforcement learning for learning of dynamical systems in uncertain environments has discussed. For this purpose, the Markov Decision Process (MDP) will be reviewed. Furthermore, some learning…
Model-free reinforcement learning (RL) is inherently a reactive method, operating under the assumption that it starts with no prior knowledge of the system and entirely depends on trial-and-error for learning. This approach faces several…
Traditional linear control strategies have been extensively researched and utilized in many robotic and industrial applications and yet they do not respond to the total dynamics of the systems. To avoid tedious calculations for nonlinear…
Learning-based controllers leverage nonlinear couplings and enhance transients but seldom offer guarantees under tight input constraints. Robust feedback like sliding-mode control (SMC) provides these guarantees but is conservative in…
The recent development of novel aerial vehicles capable of physically interacting with the environment leads to new applications such as contact-based inspection. These tasks require the robotic system to exchange forces with…
In the field of fixed wing aircraft, many morphing technologies have been applied to the wing, such as adaptive airfoil, variable span aircraft, variable swept angle aircraft, etc., but few are aimed at the tail. The traditional fixed wing…