Safer Navigation in Unknown Territory

Key aspect of safer navigation .... dealing with uncertainty in unknown territory.

ML Guarantees Robots' Performance in Unknown Territory

Princeton Engineering News   By Molly Sharlach

Princeton University researchers have developed a machine learning (ML) technique for ensuring robots' safety and success in unfamiliar environments. The researchers came up with the technique by adapting ML frameworks from other fields to robotic movement and grasping. The new technique was tested in various simulations, and also validated by evaluating its use for obstacle avoidance using a small combination quadcopter/fixed-wing airplane drone that flew down a 60-foot-long corridor dotted with cardboard cylinders; it avoided those obstacles 90% of the time. The Toyota Research Institute's Hongkai Dai said, " Over the last decade or so, there’s been a tremendous amount of excitement and progress ... "