Slashdot Mirror
Stanford's "Autonomous" Helicopters Learn
An anonymous reader writes "Stanford computer scientists have developed an artificial intelligence system that enables robotic helicopters to teach themselves to fly difficult stunts by 'watching' other helicopters perform the same maneuvers. The result is an autonomous helicopter that can perform a complete airshow of complex tricks on its own. The stunts are 'by far the most difficult aerobatic maneuvers flown by any computer controlled helicopter,' said Andrew Ng, the professor directing the research of graduate students Pieter Abbeel, Adam Coates, Timothy Hunter and Morgan Quigley. The dazzling airshow is an important demonstration of 'apprenticeship learning,' in which robots learn by observing an expert, rather than by having software engineers peck away at their keyboards in an attempt to write instructions from scratch.'" The title of the linked article uses the term "autonomous," but that's somewhat misleading. The copters can't fly on their own, but rather can duplicate complex maneuvers learned from a human pilot.
Remember those robot gunships in the Terminator movies? Yes, the they shot lasers and what not. Those things had humble beginnings.
If each mistake being made is a new one, then progress is being made.
Oh forget it.
They still are autonomous. Would you call people non-autonomous because they learn from other people?
I, for one, welcome our new supersonic nuclear cyborg pit-bull terrier guard dogs.
Better hope that one of the silly things doesn't catch sight of a couple of dogs having at it when it's in "learning mode". That could lead to some very interesting flying stunts indeed.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
The dazzling airshow is an important demonstration of "apprenticeship learning," in which robots learn by observing an expert, rather than by having software engineers peck away at their keyboards in an attempt to write instructions from scratch.
This sounds like any automated testing tool I've ever used. I can either take the time to "peck away" at my keyboard and script the task by hannd. Or I can put it into "record mode" and have it record my mouse cilcks / keyboard clicks. This sounds like the same thing and pretty easy to accomplish with a fly-by-wire controller.
I'm a big tall mofo.
DARPA had a project going on for awhile called UCAR, which was an unmanned autonomous combat helicopter. Unfortunately the war took all the money and DARPA had to cancel the competitions between Lockheed and Northrop.
Northrop currently has an unmanned helicopter called Firescout that has autonomously landed on a Navy ship while the ship was moving.
My point is that this type of work is nothing new.
You probably didn't learn a language on your own either but we think you might be autonomous.
Jut because the robot's have learned by watching an expert doesn't make them not autonomous. People learn by watching experts as well ... ok so maybe only some of us do
If the robots are capable ( and according to the article it seems they are ) of independent flight then they are autonomous.
It looks like someone with mod points has never read Snowcrash.
They don't use eyeballs to watch and learn, they apparently receive the r/c commands being sent to the 'teaching' helicopter and the position data from its onboard sensors.
And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
Who on slashdot wouldn't be familiar with the word autonomous?
I for one welcome our new Robot Helicopter Overlords.
From the 2nd paragraph of the article:
"The result is an autonomous helicopter than can perform a complete airshow of complex tricks on its own."
From kdawson's summary:
"The title of the linked article uses the term "autonomous," but that's somewhat misleading. The copters can't fly on their own, but rather can duplicate complex maneuvers learned from a human pilot."
How in any way do you come to that conclusion based upon the data in the story?
They CAN and DO fly by themselves. Out of the lab. In varying weather conditions. Constantly making adjustments for wind gusts, etc., none of which is being controlled by a human.
And then the wisecrack about their AI? It uses an algorithm to study commands sent to another helicopter, studies the results, figures out what the goal of the commands was, and is able to implement those goals, on its own, more accurately than the original human pilot. That's not a strong AI?
Can we please get some editors that understand what they are reading?
*From The Not What You Would Call Brilliant Editing Department
And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
and you'll see. Throw in a little wind here and there and the robot doesn't stand a chance.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=gi7G-VzU2r4
This story got a lot more attention than the other zillions of autonomous helicopters out there. The disappointment with the Stanford one is it is reinforcement learning. It's recording and playing the commands of a human pilot instead of simulating a dynamic model and deducing commands based on a genetic algorithm. The real value in ground based autopilot is having enough computing power to use biological algorithms.
I have a few RC helicopters, and there's no way I can fly a funnel, inverted or otherwise. Or some of those other tricks. Therefore, let me officially bow down to our rotary wing robotic overlords.
I'm put in mind of mirror neurons which fire sympathetically and seem to account for the ability of animals to mimic and thus learn novel behaviour.
Me lost me cookie at the disco.
Sounds like a win for GOFAI. Most of the time the stupid brute force approach beats the kind of thing they seem to be talking about. It's nice to see them taking an idealistic approach and actually getting results.
... also, I can kill you with my brain.
What happens when they are taught the wrong sequence of maneuvers? Like mowing down ducklings crossing the street.....
Why don't they just start working on the Robotrons now? Maybe then they could get them finished before 2084 and just get the whole "destruction of man by his own creation" thing over with.
And here is a video of these helicopters flying... http://www.livescience.com/common/media/video.php?videoRef=LS_080902_copter
Its privately called
the Big Tomahawk
and the students on campus are called
The Little scalps.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076723/quotes
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
If they wanted really complex flight, they would have contracted someone like Curtis Youngblood to fly for them. He would definitely put the learning system to the test.
OK helicopter, watch this and learn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8t41avFuCc
J
The helicopters can NOT fly by themselves "out of the lab." They are remote control helicopters with a few extra gadgets. In particular, they would include potentiometers to measure control surface deflection, digital servos, an AHRS unit, a data acquisition system, and a small autopilot computer based on a PowerPC, XScale, ARM9, or similar low-power CPU. The autopilot computer contains the definition of the control system, which is a set of nonlinear equations defining the dynamics and flight control of the helicopter. To perform a maneuver, the pilot moves the his controls which feed inputs to the control system. The servo outputs are based upon the equations defined by the control system. By recording the control inputs, accelerations, servo locations, and control surface deflections for a given maneuver, an autopilot program can be defined to fly the helicopter autonomously. Here's where AI comes into play. As the helicopter flies autonomously, there will inevitably be oscillations in the motion of the helicopter, since the human pilot that trained it cannot be perfect. However, by analyzing the feedback from the AHRS, servo locations, and control surface deflections, the control input gains to the autopilot program can be modified to give the helicopter a smoother flight by damping the unwanted oscillation induced by the autopilot attempting to reproduce the maneuver. It doesn't figure out the goal of the commands, it damps oscillation induced by the flight control system by figuring out what causes it. Its just math.
I read this on the main page. It was laid out with
"Stanford computer scientists have developed an artificial intelligence system that enables robotic helicopters to teach themselves to
and then a new line, which I was certain was going to start with the word "kill".
All intents and purposes. Not intensive purposes.
Ah, we're finally on the path to the AV-98 Ingrams. Now, where'd I put my movement disk?
Helicopter simulation.
How in any way do you come to that conclusion based upon the data in the story?
...
Can we please get some editors that understand what they are reading?
From the article:
During a flight, some of the necessary instrumentation is mounted on the helicopter, some on the ground. Together, they continuously monitor the position, direction, orientation, velocity, acceleration and spin of the helicopter in several dimensions. A ground-based computer crunches the data, makes quick calculations and beams new flight directions to the helicopter via radio 20 times per second.
If the helicopter is being directed by a ground-based computer, it's not autonomous. Kdawson was correct this time. Yes, the article contradicts itself, but I think the most detailed information is correct. Whoever wrote that news release didn't seem to understand what they were writing.
Knowledge is the small part of ignorance that we arrange and classify. (Ambrose Bierce)
That looks suspiciously like a JBH. The remote control isn't seen in operation - is it just a prop?
Just hope it don't 'watch' a helo crash, then try to mimic that behavior. Hmmm, that's a neat trick.
However, do they learn at a geometric rate?
"You are only young once, but you can be immature forever." -www.animemusicvideos.org
They aren't called, Hell-icopters for nothing. Believe me, when time comes for real combat, any real intelligenced enemy can outmaneuver any nuber of these, simply by being smarter. If what they are claiming is completely true, then, essentially, they are saying, they have discovered artificial intelligence, which is not true. What they have discovered is a mimicer that can learn (to mimic) maneuvers through observation. Big hooha!
Just for comparison, check out this guy doing stunts with a model helicopter. Not only incredible moves, but great choreography as well.