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  4. Visual CPG-RL: Learning Central Pattern Generators for Visually-Guided Quadruped Locomotion
 
conference paper

Visual CPG-RL: Learning Central Pattern Generators for Visually-Guided Quadruped Locomotion

Bellegarda, Guillaume  
•
Shafiee, Milad  
•
Ijspeert, Auke  
2024
Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation

We present a framework for learning visually-guided quadruped locomotion by integrating exteroceptive sensing and central pattern generators (CPGs), i.e. systems of coupled oscillators, into the deep reinforcement learning (DRL) framework. Through both exteroceptive and proprioceptive sensing, the agent learns to coordinate rhythmic behavior among different oscillators to track velocity commands, while at the same time override these commands to avoid collisions with the environment. We investigate several open robotics and neuroscience questions: 1) What is the role of explicit interoscillator couplings between oscillators, and can such coupling improve sim-to-real transfer for navigation robustness? 2) What are the effects of using a memory-enabled vs. a memory-free policy network with respect to robustness, energy-efficiency, and tracking performance in sim-to-real navigation tasks? 3) How do animals manage to tolerate high sensorimotor delays, yet still produce smooth and robust gaits? To answer these questions, we train our perceptive locomotion policies in simulation and perform sim-to-real transfers to the Unitree Go1 quadruped, where we observe robust navigation in a variety of scenarios. Our results show that the CPG, explicit interoscillator couplings, and memory-enabled policy representations are all beneficial for energy efficiency, robustness to noise and sensory delays of 90 ms, and tracking performance for successful sim-to-real transfer for navigation tasks.

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Type
conference paper
DOI
10.1109/ICRA57147.2024.10611128
Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85190621103

Author(s)
Bellegarda, Guillaume  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Shafiee, Milad  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Ijspeert, Auke  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Date Issued

2024

Publisher

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

Published in
Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
ISBN of the book

9798350384574

Start page

1420

End page

1427

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
BIOROB  
Event nameEvent acronymEvent placeEvent date
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation

Yokohama, Japan

2024-05-13 - 2024-05-17

FunderFunding(s)Grant NumberGrant URL

Swiss National Science Foundation

197237

Available on Infoscience
January 26, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/245260
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