用强化学习让水下机器人直接从传感器数据生成控制指令,减少人工设计。
Towards End to End Motion Planning and Execution for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Using Reinforcement Learning

- 分层强化学习:高层每2秒生成目标点,低层每10秒转为推进器指令。
- 在仿真中避障效果接近RRT*基准,轨迹长度仅差4%~6%。
- 对传感器噪声和能见度下降有强鲁棒性,适合资源受限场景。
自主水下航行器(AUV)传统上依赖复杂的工程化感知、路径规划与运动控制流水线。本文探索了端到端深度强化学习(DRL)的可行性,直接将原始传感器数据映射为推进器指令,减少人工设计。提出一种分层强化学习(HRL)架构,将问题分解为两个马尔可夫决策过程:高层(HL)策略以2Hz频率处理84×84像素单目相机图像、100×100像素前视声呐数据及本体感知信息,生成空间子目标;低层(LL)策略以10Hz频率将子目标转化为推进器指令。HL策略在改进的样本高效机器人强化学习(SERL)框架中,使用基于先验示范的强化学习(RLPD)训练;LL策略则结合软演员-评论家(SAC)与事后经验回放(HER)。在高保真HoloOcean仿真环境中评估,该方法成功实现避障,轨迹长度仅比RRT*基线短4%至6%。此外,所学策略对模拟传感器噪声和能见度下降表现出强鲁棒性。尽管系统在熟悉几何结构中导航良好,但在未访问区域遇到新型障碍物时存在泛化局限。最终,本工作证明了样本高效、端到端DRL在仅需少量计算硬件条件下实现水下导航的潜力。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) traditionally rely on complex, heavily engineered pipelines for perception, path planning, and motion control. This paper explores the feasibility of an end-to-end Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) approach that maps raw sensor data directly to thruster commands, reducing manual engineering. We propose a hierarchical reinforcement learning (HRL) architecture splitting the problem into two Markov Decision Processes. A High-Level (HL) policy operating at 2Hz processes raw $84 \times 84$ pixel monocular camera frames, stacked $100 \times 100$ pixel forward-looking imaging sonar, and proprioceptive data to generate spatial subgoals. Simultaneously, a Low-Level (LL) policy operating at 10Hz converts these subgoals into thruster commands. The HL policy is trained using Reinforcement Learning from Prior Demonstrations (RLPD) within a modified Sample-Efficient Robotic Reinforcement Learning (SERL) framework, while the LL policy utilizes Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) combined with Hindsight Experience Replay (HER). Evaluated in the high-fidelity HoloOcean simulator, our method demonstrates successful obstacle avoidance, achieving trajectory lengths closely approximating (within 4% to 6% of) an $\text{RRT}^*$ planning baseline. Furthermore, the learned policy exhibits strong robustness to simulated sensor noise and decreased visibility. While the system navigates familiar geometries effectively, experiments reveal generalization limitations when encountering unvisited areas with novel obstacle shapes. Ultimately, this work demonstrates the promise of sample-efficient, end-to-end DRL for underwater navigation using minimal computational hardware.
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