HSRL: A Hierarchical Control System Based on Spiking Deep Reinforcement Learning for Robot Navigation

Abstract

Reinforcement Learning (RL) has shown promise in robotic navigation tasks, yet applying it to real-world environments remains challenging due to dynamic complexities and the need for dynamically feasible actions. We propose a hierarchical control framework based on Spiking Deep Reinforcement Learning (SDRL) for robust robot navigation in real environments. Our approach utilizes a two-layer architecture: a high-level decision layer powered by a Spiking GRU network for handling partially observable environments, and a low-level executive layer employing Continuous Attractor Neural Networks (CANNs) to ensure precise and continuous actions. This hierarchical structure allows real-time decisionmaking that respects the physical constraints of the robot. Experimental results show that our method adapts effectively to new environments without fine-tuning and surpasses existing methods in performance. We also explore the implementation on the Darwin3 chip, paving the way for biologically inspired motion control in future robotic applications.