Deep reinforcement learning control of a 2D soft robotic arm
Shen, Zhongyi
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/108623
Description
Title
Deep reinforcement learning control of a 2D soft robotic arm
Author(s)
Shen, Zhongyi
Issue Date
2020-07-20
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Zhang, Yang
Department of Study
Electrical & Computer Eng
Discipline
Electrical & Computer Engr
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Level
Thesis
Keyword(s)
deep Q network
deep reinforcement learning
soft robotic arm
control
Abstract
This thesis provides a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) based approach for the development of a control policy for a 2D soft robotic arm. The simulation is based on the SOFA framework, which is a real-time multi-physics simulation package capable of creating models and computing forces for deformable materials. The 2D soft robotic arm is composed of two modules where each module consists of two pneumatic actuators and can extend and bend. Though DRL has been explored in the soft robotics realm, end-to-end training has not been developed. Herein, this thesis presents an end-to-end training from snapshots of the simulation to control policy guiding the soft robotic arm to reach a designated target using DRL, and proofs the validity and stability of this approach. The soft robotic arm is able to reach the target with a 98.1% success rate after approximately 30 epochs of training both for fixed initial position training and varying initial position training. The methodology presented here can be generalized for intelligent motion planning and control of soft robotic systems that are otherwise challenging.
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