International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Vol 13, No 5: October 2023

A deep reinforcement learning strategy for autonomous robot flocking

Fredy Martinez (Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas)
Holman Montiel (Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas)
Luis Wanumen (Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas)



Article Info

Publish Date
01 Oct 2023

Abstract

Social behaviors in animals such as bees, ants, and birds have shown high levels of intelligence from a multi-agent system perspective. They present viable solutions to real-world problems, particularly in navigating constrained environments with simple robotic platforms. Among these behaviors is swarm flocking, which has been extensively studied for this purpose. Flocking algorithms have been developed from basic behavioral rules, which often require parameter tuning for specific applications. However, the lack of a general formulation for tuning has made these strategies difficult to implement in various real conditions, and even to replicate laboratory behaviors. In this paper, we propose a flocking scheme for small autonomous robots that can self-learn in dynamic environments, derived from a deep reinforcement learning process. Our approach achieves flocking independently of population size and environmental characteristics, with minimal external intervention. Our multi-agent system model considers each agent’s action as a linear function dynamically adjusting the motion according to interactions with other agents and the environment. Our strategy is an important contribution toward real-world flocking implementation. We demonstrate that our approach allows for autonomous flocking in the system without requiring specific parameter tuning, making it ideal for applications where there is a need for simple robotic platforms to navigate in dynamic environments.

Copyrights © 2023






Journal Info

Abbrev

IJECE

Publisher

Subject

Computer Science & IT Electrical & Electronics Engineering

Description

International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE, ISSN: 2088-8708, a SCOPUS indexed Journal, SNIP: 1.001; SJR: 0.296; CiteScore: 0.99; SJR & CiteScore Q2 on both of the Electrical & Electronics Engineering, and Computer Science) is the official publication of the Institute of ...