A Multi-Robot Collaborative Exploration Method Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning and Knowledge Distillation

Multi-robot collaborative autonomous exploration in communication-constrained scenarios is essential in areas such as search and rescue. During the exploration process, the robot teams must minimize the occurrence of redundant scanning of the environment. To this end, we propose to view the robot te...

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Main Authors: Rui Wang, Ming Lyu, Jie Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Mathematics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/1/173
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author Rui Wang
Ming Lyu
Jie Zhang
author_facet Rui Wang
Ming Lyu
Jie Zhang
author_sort Rui Wang
collection DOAJ
description Multi-robot collaborative autonomous exploration in communication-constrained scenarios is essential in areas such as search and rescue. During the exploration process, the robot teams must minimize the occurrence of redundant scanning of the environment. To this end, we propose to view the robot team as an agent and obtain a policy network that can be centrally executed by training with an improved SAC deep reinforcement learning algorithm. In addition, we transform the obtained policy network into distributed networks that can be adapted to communication-constrained scenarios using knowledge distillation. Our proposed method offers an innovative solution to the decision-making problem for multiple robots. We conducted experiments on our proposed method within simulated environments. The experimental results show the adaptability of our proposed method to various sizes of environments and its superior performance compared to the current mainstream methods.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
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publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Mathematics
spelling doaj-art-dffa1b1f795d4a6eb8ab5ad5ab6cf76f2025-01-10T13:18:30ZengMDPI AGMathematics2227-73902025-01-0113117310.3390/math13010173A Multi-Robot Collaborative Exploration Method Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning and Knowledge DistillationRui Wang0Ming Lyu1Jie Zhang2School of Automation, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, ChinaSchool of Automation, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, ChinaSchool of Automation, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, ChinaMulti-robot collaborative autonomous exploration in communication-constrained scenarios is essential in areas such as search and rescue. During the exploration process, the robot teams must minimize the occurrence of redundant scanning of the environment. To this end, we propose to view the robot team as an agent and obtain a policy network that can be centrally executed by training with an improved SAC deep reinforcement learning algorithm. In addition, we transform the obtained policy network into distributed networks that can be adapted to communication-constrained scenarios using knowledge distillation. Our proposed method offers an innovative solution to the decision-making problem for multiple robots. We conducted experiments on our proposed method within simulated environments. The experimental results show the adaptability of our proposed method to various sizes of environments and its superior performance compared to the current mainstream methods.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/1/173multi-robotautonomous explorationdeep reinforcement learning
spellingShingle Rui Wang
Ming Lyu
Jie Zhang
A Multi-Robot Collaborative Exploration Method Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning and Knowledge Distillation
Mathematics
multi-robot
autonomous exploration
deep reinforcement learning
title A Multi-Robot Collaborative Exploration Method Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning and Knowledge Distillation
title_full A Multi-Robot Collaborative Exploration Method Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning and Knowledge Distillation
title_fullStr A Multi-Robot Collaborative Exploration Method Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning and Knowledge Distillation
title_full_unstemmed A Multi-Robot Collaborative Exploration Method Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning and Knowledge Distillation
title_short A Multi-Robot Collaborative Exploration Method Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning and Knowledge Distillation
title_sort multi robot collaborative exploration method based on deep reinforcement learning and knowledge distillation
topic multi-robot
autonomous exploration
deep reinforcement learning
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/1/173
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AT ruiwang multirobotcollaborativeexplorationmethodbasedondeepreinforcementlearningandknowledgedistillation
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