Training Directional Locomotion for Quadrupedal Low-Cost Robotic Systems via Deep Reinforcement Learning

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Hauptverfasser: Böhm, Peter, Chapman, Archie C., Pounds, Pauline
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Böhm, Peter
Chapman, Archie C.
Pounds, Pauline
author_facet Böhm, Peter
Chapman, Archie C.
Pounds, Pauline
contents In this work we present Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) training of directional locomotion for low-cost quadrupedal robots in the real world. In particular, we exploit randomization of heading that the robot must follow to foster exploration of action-state transitions most useful for learning both forward locomotion as well as course adjustments. Changing the heading in episode resets to current yaw plus a random value drawn from a normal distribution yields policies able to follow complex trajectories involving frequent turns in both directions as well as long straight-line stretches. By repeatedly changing the heading, this method keeps the robot moving within the training platform and thus reduces human involvement and need for manual resets during the training. Real world experiments on a custom-built, low-cost quadruped demonstrate the efficacy of our method with the robot successfully navigating all validation tests. When trained with other approaches, the robot only succeeds in forward locomotion test and fails when turning is required.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_11059
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Training Directional Locomotion for Quadrupedal Low-Cost Robotic Systems via Deep Reinforcement Learning
Böhm, Peter
Chapman, Archie C.
Pounds, Pauline
Robotics
Artificial Intelligence
In this work we present Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) training of directional locomotion for low-cost quadrupedal robots in the real world. In particular, we exploit randomization of heading that the robot must follow to foster exploration of action-state transitions most useful for learning both forward locomotion as well as course adjustments. Changing the heading in episode resets to current yaw plus a random value drawn from a normal distribution yields policies able to follow complex trajectories involving frequent turns in both directions as well as long straight-line stretches. By repeatedly changing the heading, this method keeps the robot moving within the training platform and thus reduces human involvement and need for manual resets during the training. Real world experiments on a custom-built, low-cost quadruped demonstrate the efficacy of our method with the robot successfully navigating all validation tests. When trained with other approaches, the robot only succeeds in forward locomotion test and fails when turning is required.
title Training Directional Locomotion for Quadrupedal Low-Cost Robotic Systems via Deep Reinforcement Learning
topic Robotics
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.11059