Online Continual Safe Reinforcement Learning-based Optimal Control of Mobile Robot Formations

In this work, a leader-follower tracking and formation control strategy for mobile robots (MRs) with uncertain dynamics is proposed. This strategy utilizes a continual lifelong safe reinforcement learning (CLSRL) framework based on multilayer neural networks (MNNs). The proposed design employs actor-critic MNNs, incorporating a barrier function. This function is derived from the Bellman optimality principle. It addresses the state constraints throughout the control design process. A novel online continual lifelong learning (CLL) method is introduced for MR formation. This method leverages the Bellman residual error for weight significance in MNNs. It addresses catastrophic forgetting and interlayer dependence through layer-specific regularizers. Novel weight update laws are proposed. The simulation results show a 35% improvement in performance.