随着自动驾驶汽车（AV）开发的发展，对环境中乘客和代理商的安全性的担忧已经上升。涉及自主控制车辆的每个现实世界交通碰撞都使这种担忧加剧了。开源自主驾驶实现显示了具有复杂相互依赖任务的软件体系结构，这很大程度上依赖于机器学习和深层神经网络（DNN），这些任务容易受到非确定性故障和角落案例的影响。这些复杂的子系统共同履行AV的任务，同时还保持安全性。尽管在提高对这些系统的经验可靠性和信心方面正在做出重大改进，但DNN验证的固有局限性在提供AV中提供确定性安全保证方面却引起了无法克服的挑战。我们提出了协同冗余（SR），这是一种用于复杂网络物理系统的安全架构，例如AV。 SR通过将系统的任务和安全任务解耦来提供可验证的安全保证。在独立履行其主要角色的同时，部分功能多余的任务和安全任务能够相互帮助，从而协同改善合并的系统。协同安全层仅使用可验证且可分析的软件来完成其任务。与任务层的密切协调可以更轻松，更早地检测系统中的紧急故障。 SR简化了任务层的优化目标并改进了其设计。 SR提供了高性能的安全部署，尽管本质上无法验证的机器学习软件。在这项工作中，我们首先介绍SR体系结构的设计和功能，然后评估解决方案的功效，重点关注AV中障碍物存在故障的关键问题。

对障碍的看法仍然是自动驾驶汽车的关键安全问题。现实世界中的碰撞表明，导致致命碰撞的自治缺陷源于障碍物的存在。开源自主驾驶实现显示了具有复杂相互依存的深神经网络的感知管道。这些网络无法完全验证，使其不适合安全至关重要的任务。在这项工作中，我们介绍了现有的基于LIDAR的经典障碍物检测算法的安全验证。我们对该障碍检测算法的功能建立了严格的界限。考虑到安全标准，这种界限允许确定可以可靠地满足标准的激光雷达传感器属性。对于基于神经网络的感知系统，此类分析尚未实现。我们对障碍检测系统进行了严格的分析，并基于现实世界传感器数据提供了经验结果。

在这项工作中，我们通过利用3D Suite Blender生产具有6D姿势的合成RGBD图像数据集来提出数据生成管道。提出的管道可以有效地生成大量的照片现实的RGBD图像，以了解感兴趣的对象。此外，引入了域随机化技术的集合来弥合真实数据和合成数据之间的差距。此外，我们通过整合对象检测器Yolo-V4微型和6D姿势估计算法PVN3D来开发实时的两阶段6D姿势估计方法，用于时间敏感的机器人应用。借助提出的数据生成管道，我们的姿势估计方法可以仅使用没有任何预训练模型的合成数据从头开始训练。在LineMod数据集评估时，与最先进的方法相比，所得网络显示出竞争性能。我们还证明了在机器人实验中提出的方法，在不同的照明条件下从混乱的背景中抓住家用物体。

深度强化学习（DRL）是一种有前途的方法，可以通过与环境的互动来学习政策来解决复杂的控制任务。但是，对DRL政策的培训需要大量的培训经验，这使得直接了解物理系统的政策是不切实际的。 SIM到运行的方法可以利用模拟来验证DRL政策，然后将其部署在现实世界中。不幸的是，经过验证的政策的直接现实部署通常由于不同的动态（称为现实差距）而遭受性能恶化。最近的SIM到现实方法，例如域随机化和域的适应性，重点是改善预审预告剂的鲁棒性。然而，经过模拟训练的策略通常需要使用现实世界中的数据来调整以达到最佳性能，这是由于现实世界样本的高成本而具有挑战性的。这项工作提出了一个分布式的云边缘建筑，以实时培训现实世界中的DRL代理。在体系结构中，推理和训练被分配到边缘和云，将实时控制循环与计算昂贵的训练回路分开。为了克服现实差距，我们的体系结构利用了SIM到现实的转移策略，以继续在物理系统上训练模拟预言的代理。我们证明了其在物理倒置螺旋控制系统上的适用性，分析了关键参数。现实世界实验表明，我们的体系结构可以使验证的DRL代理能够始终如一，有效地看不见动态。

Computational units in artificial neural networks follow a simplified model of biological neurons. In the biological model, the output signal of a neuron runs down the axon, splits following the many branches at its end, and passes identically to all the downward neurons of the network. Each of the downward neurons will use their copy of this signal as one of many inputs dendrites, integrate them all and fire an output, if above some threshold. In the artificial neural network, this translates to the fact that the nonlinear filtering of the signal is performed in the upward neuron, meaning that in practice the same activation is shared between all the downward neurons that use that signal as their input. Dendrites thus play a passive role. We propose a slightly more complex model for the biological neuron, where dendrites play an active role: the activation in the output of the upward neuron becomes optional, and instead the signals going through each dendrite undergo independent nonlinear filterings, before the linear combination. We implement this new model into a ReLU computational unit and discuss its biological plausibility. We compare this new computational unit with the standard one and describe it from a geometrical point of view. We provide a Keras implementation of this unit into fully connected and convolutional layers and estimate their FLOPs and weights change. We then use these layers in ResNet architectures on CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, Imagenette, and Imagewoof, obtaining performance improvements over standard ResNets up to 1.73%. Finally, we prove a universal representation theorem for continuous functions on compact sets and show that this new unit has more representational power than its standard counterpart.

The open-radio access network (O-RAN) embraces cloudification and network function virtualization for base-band function processing by dis-aggregated radio units (RUs), distributed units (DUs), and centralized units (CUs). These enable the cloud-RAN vision in full, where multiple mobile network operators (MNOs) can install their proprietary or open RUs, but lease on-demand computational resources for DU-CU functions from commonly available open-clouds via open x-haul interfaces. In this paper, we propose and compare the performances of min-max fairness and Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) auction-based x-haul and DU-CU resource allocation mechanisms to create a multi-tenant O-RAN ecosystem that is sustainable for small, medium, and large MNOs. The min-max fair approach minimizes the maximum OPEX of RUs through cost-sharing proportional to their demands, whereas the VCG auction-based approach minimizes the total OPEX for all resources utilized while extracting truthful demands from RUs. We consider time-wavelength division multiplexed (TWDM) passive optical network (PON)-based x-haul interfaces where PON virtualization technique is used to flexibly provide optical connections among RUs and edge-clouds at macro-cell RU locations as well as open-clouds at the central office locations. Moreover, we design efficient heuristics that yield significantly better economic efficiency and network resource utilization than conventional greedy resource allocation algorithms and reinforcement learning-based algorithms.

When testing conditions differ from those represented in training data, so-called out-of-distribution (OOD) inputs can mar the reliability of black-box learned components in the modern robot autonomy stack. Therefore, coping with OOD data is an important challenge on the path towards trustworthy learning-enabled open-world autonomy. In this paper, we aim to demystify the topic of OOD data and its associated challenges in the context of data-driven robotic systems, drawing connections to emerging paradigms in the ML community that study the effect of OOD data on learned models in isolation. We argue that as roboticists, we should reason about the overall system-level competence of a robot as it performs tasks in OOD conditions. We highlight key research questions around this system-level view of OOD problems to guide future research toward safe and reliable learning-enabled autonomy.

Autoencoders are a popular model in many branches of machine learning and lossy data compression. However, their fundamental limits, the performance of gradient methods and the features learnt during optimization remain poorly understood, even in the two-layer setting. In fact, earlier work has considered either linear autoencoders or specific training regimes (leading to vanishing or diverging compression rates). Our paper addresses this gap by focusing on non-linear two-layer autoencoders trained in the challenging proportional regime in which the input dimension scales linearly with the size of the representation. Our results characterize the minimizers of the population risk, and show that such minimizers are achieved by gradient methods; their structure is also unveiled, thus leading to a concise description of the features obtained via training. For the special case of a sign activation function, our analysis establishes the fundamental limits for the lossy compression of Gaussian sources via (shallow) autoencoders. Finally, while the results are proved for Gaussian data, numerical simulations on standard datasets display the universality of the theoretical predictions.

Profile extrusion is a continuous production process for manufacturing plastic profiles from molten polymer. Especially interesting is the design of the die, through which the melt is pressed to attain the desired shape. However, due to an inhomogeneous velocity distribution at the die exit or residual stresses inside the extrudate, the final shape of the manufactured part often deviates from the desired one. To avoid these deviations, the shape of the die can be computationally optimized, which has already been investigated in the literature using classical optimization approaches. A new approach in the field of shape optimization is the utilization of Reinforcement Learning (RL) as a learning-based optimization algorithm. RL is based on trial-and-error interactions of an agent with an environment. For each action, the agent is rewarded and informed about the subsequent state of the environment. While not necessarily superior to classical, e.g., gradient-based or evolutionary, optimization algorithms for one single problem, RL techniques are expected to perform especially well when similar optimization tasks are repeated since the agent learns a more general strategy for generating optimal shapes instead of concentrating on just one single problem. In this work, we investigate this approach by applying it to two 2D test cases. The flow-channel geometry can be modified by the RL agent using so-called Free-Form Deformation, a method where the computational mesh is embedded into a transformation spline, which is then manipulated based on the control-point positions. In particular, we investigate the impact of utilizing different agents on the training progress and the potential of wall time saving by utilizing multiple environments during training.

The recent emergence of new algorithms for permuting models into functionally equivalent regions of the solution space has shed some light on the complexity of error surfaces, and some promising properties like mode connectivity. However, finding the right permutation is challenging, and current optimization techniques are not differentiable, which makes it difficult to integrate into a gradient-based optimization, and often leads to sub-optimal solutions. In this paper, we propose a Sinkhorn re-basin network with the ability to obtain the transportation plan that better suits a given objective. Unlike the current state-of-art, our method is differentiable and, therefore, easy to adapt to any task within the deep learning domain. Furthermore, we show the advantage of our re-basin method by proposing a new cost function that allows performing incremental learning by exploiting the linear mode connectivity property. The benefit of our method is compared against similar approaches from the literature, under several conditions for both optimal transport finding and linear mode connectivity. The effectiveness of our continual learning method based on re-basin is also shown for several common benchmark datasets, providing experimental results that are competitive with state-of-art results from the literature.