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Main Authors: Miura, Takato, Akai, Naoki, Honda, Kohei, Hara, Susumu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.10395
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author Miura, Takato
Akai, Naoki
Honda, Kohei
Hara, Susumu
author_facet Miura, Takato
Akai, Naoki
Honda, Kohei
Hara, Susumu
contents This paper presents a reactive navigation method that leverages a Model Predictive Path Integral (MPPI) control enhanced with spline interpolation for the control input sequence and Stein Variational Gradient Descent (SVGD). The MPPI framework addresses a nonlinear optimization problem by determining an optimal sequence of control inputs through a sampling-based approach. The efficacy of MPPI is significantly influenced by the sampling noise. To rapidly identify routes that circumvent large and/or newly detected obstacles, it is essential to employ high levels of sampling noise. However, such high noise levels result in jerky control input sequences, leading to non-smooth trajectories. To mitigate this issue, we propose the integration of spline interpolation within the MPPI process, enabling the generation of smooth control input sequences despite the utilization of substantial sampling noises. Nonetheless, the standard MPPI algorithm struggles in scenarios featuring multiple optimal or near-optimal solutions, such as environments with several viable obstacle avoidance paths, due to its assumption that the distribution over an optimal control input sequence can be closely approximated by a Gaussian distribution. To address this limitation, we extend our method by incorporating SVGD into the MPPI framework with spline interpolation. SVGD, rooted in the optimal transportation algorithm, possesses the unique ability to cluster samples around an optimal solution. Consequently, our approach facilitates robust reactive navigation by swiftly identifying obstacle avoidance paths while maintaining the smoothness of the control input sequences. The efficacy of our proposed method is validated on simulations with a quadrotor, demonstrating superior performance over existing baseline techniques.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2404_10395
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Spline-Interpolated Model Predictive Path Integral Control with Stein Variational Inference for Reactive Navigation
Miura, Takato
Akai, Naoki
Honda, Kohei
Hara, Susumu
Robotics
This paper presents a reactive navigation method that leverages a Model Predictive Path Integral (MPPI) control enhanced with spline interpolation for the control input sequence and Stein Variational Gradient Descent (SVGD). The MPPI framework addresses a nonlinear optimization problem by determining an optimal sequence of control inputs through a sampling-based approach. The efficacy of MPPI is significantly influenced by the sampling noise. To rapidly identify routes that circumvent large and/or newly detected obstacles, it is essential to employ high levels of sampling noise. However, such high noise levels result in jerky control input sequences, leading to non-smooth trajectories. To mitigate this issue, we propose the integration of spline interpolation within the MPPI process, enabling the generation of smooth control input sequences despite the utilization of substantial sampling noises. Nonetheless, the standard MPPI algorithm struggles in scenarios featuring multiple optimal or near-optimal solutions, such as environments with several viable obstacle avoidance paths, due to its assumption that the distribution over an optimal control input sequence can be closely approximated by a Gaussian distribution. To address this limitation, we extend our method by incorporating SVGD into the MPPI framework with spline interpolation. SVGD, rooted in the optimal transportation algorithm, possesses the unique ability to cluster samples around an optimal solution. Consequently, our approach facilitates robust reactive navigation by swiftly identifying obstacle avoidance paths while maintaining the smoothness of the control input sequences. The efficacy of our proposed method is validated on simulations with a quadrotor, demonstrating superior performance over existing baseline techniques.
title Spline-Interpolated Model Predictive Path Integral Control with Stein Variational Inference for Reactive Navigation
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.10395