Neuromorphic control for optic-flow-based landings of MAVs using the Loihi processor
Neuromorphic processors like Loihi offer a promising alternative to conventional computing modules for endowing constrained systems like micro air vehicles (MAVs) with robust, efficient and autonomous skills such as take-off and landing, obstacle avoidance, and pursuit. However, a major challenge for using such processors on robotic platforms is the reality gap between simulation and the real world. In this study, we present for the very first time a fully embedded application of the Loihi neuromorphic chip prototype in a flying robot. A spiking neural network (SNN) was evolved to compute the thrust command based on the divergence of the ventral optic flow field to perform autonomous landing. Evolution was performed in a Python-based simulator using the PySNN library. The resulting network architecture consists of only 35 neurons distributed among 3 layers. Quantitative analysis between simulation and Loihi reveals a root-mean-square error of the thrust setpoint as low as 0.005 g, along with a 99.8% matching of the spike sequences in the hidden layer, and 99.7% in the output layer. The proposed approach successfully bridges the reality gap, offering important insights for future neuromorphic applications in robotics. Supplementary material is available at https://mavlab.tudelft.nl/loihi/.
Code (0)
등록된 구현이 없습니다.
Similar Papers 제목 키워드 기반
Evolved Neuromorphic Control for High Speed Divergence-based Landings of MAVs
Flying insects are capable of vision-based navigation in cluttered environments, reliably avoiding obstacles through fast and agile maneuvers, while being very efficient in the processing of visual stimuli. Meanwhile, au…
Optical Flow EstimationVocal Bursts Intensity PredictionVertical Planetary Landing on Sloped Terrain Using Optical Flow Divergence Estimates
Autonomous landing on sloped terrain poses significant challenges for small, lightweight spacecraft, such as rotorcraft and landers. These vehicles have limited processing capability and payload capacity, which makes adv…
Event-Based Adaptive Koopman Framework for Optic Flow-Guided Landing on Moving Platforms
This paper presents an optic flow-guided approach for achieving soft landings by resource-constrained unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on dynamic platforms. An offline data-driven linear model based on Koopman operator th…
Model Predictive ControlDesign and implementation of a parsimonious neuromorphic PID for onboard altitude control for MAVs using neuromorphic processors
The great promises of neuromorphic sensing and processing for robotics have led researchers and engineers to investigate novel models for robust and reliable control of autonomous robots (navigation, obstacle detection a…
FAITH: Fast iterative half-plane focus of expansion estimation using event-based optic flow
Course estimation is a key component for the development of autonomous navigation systems for robots. While state-of-the-art methods widely use visual-based algorithms, it is worth noting that they all fail to deal with …
Autonomous NavigationComputational Efficiency