Online learning of vision-based robot control during autonomous operation

Abstract

Online learning of vision-based robot control requires appropriate activation strategies during operation. In this chapter we present such a learning approach with applications to two areas of vision-based robot control. In the first setting, selfevaluation is possible for the learning system and the system autonomously switches to learning mode for producing the necessary training data by exploration. The other application is in a setting where external information is required for determining the correctness of an action. Therefore, an operator provides training data when required, leading to an automatic mode switch to online learning from demonstration. In experiments for the first setting, the system is able to autonomously learn the inverse kinematics of a robotic arm. We propose improvements producing more informative training data compared to random exploration. This reduces training time and limits learning to regions where the learnt mapping is used. The learnt region is extended autonomously on demand. In experiments for the second setting, we present an autonomous driving system learning a mapping from visual input to control signals, which is trained by manually steering the robot. After the initial training period, the system seamlessly continues autonomously.Manual control can be taken back at any time for providing additional training.