Evaluating Robustness of Reinforcement Learning Algorithms for Autonomous Shipping

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Lesy, Bavo, Anwar, Ali, Mercelis, Siegfried
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Lesy, Bavo
Anwar, Ali
Mercelis, Siegfried
author_facet Lesy, Bavo
Anwar, Ali
Mercelis, Siegfried
contents Recently, there has been growing interest in autonomous shipping due to its potential to improve maritime efficiency and safety. The use of advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, can address the current navigational and operational challenges in autonomous shipping. In particular, inland waterway transport (IWT) presents a unique set of challenges, such as crowded waterways and variable environmental conditions. In such dynamic settings, the reliability and robustness of autonomous shipping solutions are critical factors for ensuring safe operations. This paper examines the robustness of benchmark deep reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms, implemented for IWT within an autonomous shipping simulator, and their ability to generate effective motion planning policies. We demonstrate that a model-free approach can achieve an adequate policy in the simulator, successfully navigating port environments never encountered during training. We focus particularly on Soft-Actor Critic (SAC), which we show to be inherently more robust to environmental disturbances compared to MuZero, a state-of-the-art model-based RL algorithm. In this paper, we take a significant step towards developing robust, applied RL frameworks that can be generalized to various vessel types and navigate complex port- and inland environments and scenarios.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_04915
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Evaluating Robustness of Reinforcement Learning Algorithms for Autonomous Shipping
Lesy, Bavo
Anwar, Ali
Mercelis, Siegfried
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Recently, there has been growing interest in autonomous shipping due to its potential to improve maritime efficiency and safety. The use of advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, can address the current navigational and operational challenges in autonomous shipping. In particular, inland waterway transport (IWT) presents a unique set of challenges, such as crowded waterways and variable environmental conditions. In such dynamic settings, the reliability and robustness of autonomous shipping solutions are critical factors for ensuring safe operations. This paper examines the robustness of benchmark deep reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms, implemented for IWT within an autonomous shipping simulator, and their ability to generate effective motion planning policies. We demonstrate that a model-free approach can achieve an adequate policy in the simulator, successfully navigating port environments never encountered during training. We focus particularly on Soft-Actor Critic (SAC), which we show to be inherently more robust to environmental disturbances compared to MuZero, a state-of-the-art model-based RL algorithm. In this paper, we take a significant step towards developing robust, applied RL frameworks that can be generalized to various vessel types and navigate complex port- and inland environments and scenarios.
title Evaluating Robustness of Reinforcement Learning Algorithms for Autonomous Shipping
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.04915