QuaDUE-CCM: Interpretable distributional reinforcement learning using uncertain contraction metrics for precise quadrotor trajectory tracking
File(s)wang23d.pdf (4.75 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Wang, Y
Qian, Q
O'Keeffe, J
Boyle, D
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
Accuracy and stability are common requirements for quadrotor trajectory tracking systems. Designing an accurate and stable tracking controller remains challenging, particularly in unknown and dynamic environments with complex aerodynamic disturbances. We propose a Quantile-approximation-based Distributional-reinforced Uncertainty Estimator (QuaDUE) to accurately identify the effects of aerodynamic disturbances, i.e., the uncertainties between the true and estimated Control Contraction Metrics (CCMs). Taking inspiration from contraction theory and integrating the QuaDUE for uncertainties, our novel CCM-based trajectory tracking framework tracks any feasible reference trajectory precisely whilst guaranteeing exponential convergence. More importantly, the convergence and training acceleration of the distributional RL are guaranteed and analyzed, respectively, from theoretical perspectives. We also demonstrate our system under unknown and diverse aerodynamic forces. Under large aerodynamic forces (>2 m/s2), compared with the classic data-driven approach, our QuaDUE-CCM achieves at least a 56.6% improvement in tracking error. Compared with QuaDRED-MPC, a distributional RL-based approach, QuaDUE-CCM achieves at least a 3 times improvement in contraction rate.
Date Issued
2023-01-01
Date Acceptance
2022-12-01
Citation
Proceedings of Machine Learning Research, 2023, 205, pp.2306-2316
ISSN
2640-3498
Publisher
MLResearchPress
Start Page
2306
End Page
2316
Journal / Book Title
Proceedings of Machine Learning Research
Volume
205
Copyright Statement
© The authors and PMLR 2023. MLResearchPress
Source
Conference on Robot Learning
Publication Status
Published
Start Date
2022-12-14
Finish Date
2022-12-18
Coverage Spatial
Auckland, New Zealand