用类脑学习方法让四足机器人在不平地形上低功耗自适应行走。
Neuromorphic Reinforcement Learning for Quadruped Locomotion Control on Uneven Terrain

- 用局部神经状态更新替代全局反向传播,实现类脑在线学习。
- 在A1机器人上实现与传统方法相当的行走成功率和稳定性,显着降低内存占用。
- 适合做低功耗、可实时调整的智能机器人控制,尤其适用于嵌入式系统。
强化学习已使四足机器人在复杂地形上实现稳健运动,但多数控制器在大规模并行仿真中离线训练后部署为固定策略,难以应对真实世界中的地形变化、负载波动、执行器磨损等条件,且受限于机载算力。局部学习通过用局部神经状态驱动的更新替代全局反向传播图,更适配类脑与存内计算架构。本文提出基于平衡传播(EP)的近端策略优化(PPO)框架,用于不平地形下的四足运动控制。控制器结合生物启发的中枢模式发生器(CPG)策略与残差姿态调整策略,并以EP支持的局部学习替代传统反向传播训练的策略与价值网络。为在EP下训练随机连续控制策略,我们推导出兼容的输出引导信号,并引入双侧比例裁剪机制,稳定松弛过程中的策略更新。在12自由度的A1四足机器人上实验表明,该控制器在两阶段不平地形任务中实现稳定策略收敛,其运动性能在成功率、速度追踪、执行器功率和躯干稳定性方面与反向传播训练的PPO基线相当,同时相比通过时间反向传播(BPTT)提升4.3倍的GPU内存效率。结果表明,基于局部平衡的学习可支撑高维具身运动,为低功耗机载自适应与微调提供算法基础。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Reinforcement learning (RL) has enabled robust quadruped locomotion over complex terrain, but most learned controllers are trained offline with backpropagation in massively parallel simulation and deployed as fixed policies, limiting adaptation to terrain variation, payload changes, actuator wear, and other real-world conditions under onboard power constraints. Local learning provides a potential path toward energy-aware on-robot adaptation by replacing global backpropagation graphs with updates driven by local neural states, making the learning rule more compatible with neuromorphic and in-memory computing substrates. This work proposes an equilibrium-propagation (EP)-based proximal policy optimization (PPO) framework for uneven-terrain quadruped locomotion. The controller combines a bio-inspired central pattern generator (CPG) policy with a residual postural adjustment policy, while replacing conventional backpropagation-trained policy and value networks with EP-enabled local learning. To train stochastic continuous-control policies with EP, we derive an EP-compatible PPO output-nudging signal and introduce a two-sided ratio clipping mechanism that stabilizes policy updates during relaxation. Experiments on a 12-DoF A1 quadruped show that the proposed controller achieves stable policy convergence in a two-stage uneven terrain locomotion task. Its locomotion performance is comparable to a backpropagation-trained PPO baseline in success rate, velocity tracking, actuator power, and body stability, while improving GPU memory efficiency by 4.3\(\times\) compared with backpropagation through time (BPTT). These results suggest that local equilibrium-based learning can support high-dimensional embodied locomotion and provide an algorithmic foundation for low-power on-robot adaptation and fine-tuning.
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