Obstacle Avoidance in Multi-Agent Formation Process Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning

To solve the problems of difficult control law design, poor portability, and poor stability of traditional multi-agent formation obstacle avoidance algorithms, a multi-agent formation obstacle avoidance method based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is proposed. This method combines the perception ability of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with the decision-making ability of reinforcement learning in a general form and realizes direct output control from the visual perception input of the environment to the action through an end-to-end learning method. The multi-agent system (MAS) model of the follow-leader formation method was designed with the wheelbarrow as the control object. An improved deep Q netwrok (DQN) algorithm (we improved its discount factor and learning efficiency and designed a reward value function that considers the distance relationship between the agent and the obstacle and the coordination factor between the multi-agents) was designed to achieve obstacle avoidance and collision avoidance in the process of multi-agent formation into the desired formation. The simulation results show that the proposed method achieves the expected goal of multi-agent formation obstacle avoidance and has stronger portability compared with the traditional algorithm. © 2021, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.