In this paper, we describe the development process of autonomous navigation capabilities of a small cruise boat operating in a canal environment and present the results of a field experiment conducted in the Pohang Canal, South Korea. Nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) was used for the online trajectory planning and tracking control of the cruise boat in a narrow passage in the canal. To consider the nonlinear characteristics of boat dynamics, system identification was performed using experimental data from various test maneuvers, such as acceleration-deceleration and zigzag trials. To efficiently represent the obstacle structures in the canal environment, we parameterized the canal walls as line segments with point cloud data, captured by an onboard LiDAR sensor, and considered them as constraints for obstacle avoidance. The proposed method was implemented in a single NMPC layer, and its real-world performance was verified through experimental runs in the Pohang Canal.

Learning-based path planning is becoming a promising robot navigation methodology due to its adaptability to various environments. However, the expensive computing and storage associated with networks impose significant challenges for their deployment on low-cost robots. Motivated by this practical challenge, we develop a lightweight neural path planning architecture with a dual input network and a hybrid sampler for resource-constrained robotic systems. Our architecture is designed with efficient task feature extraction and fusion modules to translate the given planning instance into a guidance map. The hybrid sampler is then applied to restrict the planning within the prospective regions indicated by the guide map. To enable the network training, we further construct a publicly available dataset with various successful planning instances. Numerical simulations and physical experiments demonstrate that, compared with baseline approaches, our approach has nearly an order of magnitude fewer model size and five times lower computational while achieving promising performance. Besides, our approach can also accelerate the planning convergence process with fewer planning iterations compared to sample-based methods.

6G is the next-generation intelligent and integrated digital information infrastructure, characterized by ubiquitous interconnection, native intelligence, multi-dimensional perception, global coverage, green and low-carbon, native network security, etc. 6G will realize the transition from serving people and people-things communication to supporting the efficient connection of intelligent agents, and comprehensively leading the digital, intelligent and green transformation of the economy and the society. As the core support system for mobile communication network, 6 6G BSS need to integrate with new business models brought about by the development of the next-generation Internet and IT, upgrade from "network-centric" to "business and service centric" and "customer-centric". 6G OSS and BSS systems need to strengthen their integration to improve the operational efficiency and benefits of customers by connecting the digital intelligence support capabilities on both sides of supply and demand. This paper provides a detailed introduction to the overall vision, potential key technologies, and functional architecture of 6G BSS systems. It also presents an evolutionary roadmap and technological prospects for the BSS systems from 5G to 6G.

Reinforcement Learning (RL) Sutton and Barto [2018] and Probabilistic planning Puterman [2014] are two research branches that address stochastic problems, often under the Markov assumption for state dynamics. The planning approach requires a given model, while the learning approach improves through repeated interaction with an environment, which can be viewed as a black box. Thus, the tools and the benchmarks for these two branches have grown apart. Learning agents do not require to be able to simulate model-based transitions, and thus frameworks such as OpenAI Gym Brockman et al. [2016] have become a standard, serving also as an interface for third-party benchmarks such as Todorov et al. [2012], Bellemare et al. [2013] and more. As the model is not necessary for solving the learning problem, the environments are hard-coded in a programming language. This has several downsides; if one does wish to see the model describing the environment, it has to be reverse-engineered from the environment framework, complex problems can result in a significant development period, code bugs may make their way into the environment and finally, there is no clean way to verify the model or reuse it directly. Thus, the creation of a verified acceptable benchmark is a challenging task. Planning agents on the other hand can interact with an environment Sanner [2010a], but in many cases simulate the model within the planning agent in order to solve the problem Keller and Eyerich [2012]. The planning community has also come up with formal description languages for various types of problems; these include the Planning Domain Definition Language (PDDL) Aeronautiques et al. [1998] for classical planning problems, PDDL2.1 Fox and Long [2003] for problems involving time and continuous variables, PPDDL Bryce and Buet [2008] for classical planning problems with action probabilistic effects and rewards, and Relational Dynamic Influence Diagram Language (RDDL)

Information about action costs is critical for real-world AI planning applications. Rather than rely solely on declarative action models, recent approaches also use black-box external action cost estimators, often learned from data, that are applied during the planning phase. These, however, can be computationally expensive, and produce uncertain values. In this paper we suggest a generalization of deterministic planning with action costs that allows selecting between multiple estimators for action cost, to balance computation time against bounded estimation uncertainty. This enables a much richer -- and correspondingly more realistic -- problem representation. Importantly, it allows planners to bound plan accuracy, thereby increasing reliability, while reducing unnecessary computational burden, which is critical for scaling to large problems. We introduce a search algorithm, generalizing $A^*$, that solves such planning problems, and additional algorithmic extensions. In addition to theoretical guarantees, extensive experiments show considerable savings in runtime compared to alternatives.

Vehicle trajectory planning is a key component for an autonomous driving system. A practical system not only requires the component to compute a feasible trajectory, but also a comfortable one given certain comfort metrics. Nevertheless, computation efficiency is critical for the system to be deployed as a commercial product. In this paper, we present a novel trajectory planning algorithm based on nonlinear optimization. The algorithm computes a kinematically feasible and comfort-optimal trajectory that achieves collision avoidance with static obstacles. Furthermore, the algorithm is time efficient. It generates an 6-second trajectory within 10 milliseconds on an Intel i7 machine or 20 milliseconds on an Nvidia Drive Orin platform.

Boolean satisfiability (SAT) is a fundamental NP-complete problem with many applications, including automated planning and scheduling. To solve large instances, SAT solvers have to rely on heuristics, e.g., choosing a branching variable in DPLL and CDCL solvers. Such heuristics can be improved with machine learning (ML) models; they can reduce the number of steps but usually hinder the running time because useful models are relatively large and slow. We suggest the strategy of making a few initial steps with a trained ML model and then releasing control to classical heuristics; this simplifies cold start for SAT solving and can decrease both the number of steps and overall runtime, but requires a separate decision of when to release control to the solver. Moreover, we introduce a modification of Graph-Q-SAT tailored to SAT problems converted from other domains, e.g., open shop scheduling problems. We validate the feasibility of our approach with random and industrial SAT problems.

In robotic tasks, changes in reference frames typically do not influence the underlying physical properties of the system, which has been known as invariance of physical laws. These changes, which preserve distance, encompass isometric transformations such as translations, rotations, and reflections, collectively known as the Euclidean group. In this work, we delve into the design of improved learning algorithms for reinforcement learning and planning tasks that possess Euclidean group symmetry. We put forth a theory on that unify prior work on discrete and continuous symmetry in reinforcement learning, planning, and optimal control. Algorithm side, we further extend the 2D path planning with value-based planning to continuous MDPs and propose a pipeline for constructing equivariant sampling-based planning algorithms. Our work is substantiated with empirical evidence and illustrated through examples that explain the benefits of equivariance to Euclidean symmetry in tackling natural control problems.

Action models, which take the form of precondition/effect axioms, facilitate causal and motivational connections between actions for AI agents. Action model acquisition has been identified as a bottleneck in the application of planning technology, especially within narrative planning. Acquiring action models from narrative texts in an automated way is essential, but challenging because of the inherent complexities of such texts. We present NaRuto, a system that extracts structured events from narrative text and subsequently generates planning-language-style action models based on predictions of commonsense event relations, as well as textual contradictions and similarities, in an unsupervised manner. Experimental results in classical narrative planning domains show that NaRuto can generate action models of significantly better quality than existing fully automated methods, and even on par with those of semi-automated methods.

In this white paper, we synthesize key points made during presentations and discussions from the AI-Assisted Decision Making for Conservation workshop, hosted by the Center for Research on Computation and Society at Harvard University on October 20-21, 2022. We identify key open research questions in resource allocation, planning, and interventions for biodiversity conservation, highlighting conservation challenges that not only require AI solutions, but also require novel methodological advances. In addition to providing a summary of the workshop talks and discussions, we hope this document serves as a call-to-action to orient the expansion of algorithmic decision-making approaches to prioritize real-world conservation challenges, through collaborative efforts of ecologists, conservation decision-makers, and AI researchers.