SafePCA: Enhancing Autonomous Robot Navigation in Dynamic Crowds Using Proximal Policy Optimization and Cellular Automata

Abstract

Navigating robots in dynamic environments, such as human crowds, is a major challenge due to the trade-off between performance and robustness. Traditional reinforcement learning methods, such as Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO), have shown strong adaptation capabilities but require extensive training and lack explicit mechanisms for collision avoidance. On the other hand, rule-based approaches, such as the Dynamic Window Approach (DWA), offer computational efficiency but struggle with generalization to unseen crowd behaviors. The proposed SafePCA framework aims to address this trade-off by integrating Cellular Automata (CA) into PPO-based navigation. CA enhances robustness by predicting high-risk areas based on pedestrian movement patterns, reducing unnecessary collisions. However, this approach may lead to conservative behavior, potentially affecting navigation performance in reaching the goal efficiently. The core research question addressed in this work is whether SafePCA can balance these trade-offs to ensure safe yet efficient robot navigation in dynamic crowds. Experiments demonstrate that SafePCA outperforms traditional PPO by providing superior risk assessment and avoidance strategies, achieving optimal performance with fewer training episodes. SafePCA's real-time adaptability ensures robust navigation in dynamic environments. By leveraging PPO's adaptive learning and CA's risk analysis, SafePCA offers an efficient solution for autonomous robot navigation in crowded environments, advancing the field and broadening application possibilities.