Advancing mobile robot navigation with DRL and heuristic rewards: a comprehensive review

Khan, Mazbahur Rahman and Mohd Ibrahim, Azhar and Al Mahmud, Suaib and Samat, Farah Asyiqin and Jasni, Farahiyah and Mardzuki, Muhammad Imran (2025) Advancing mobile robot navigation with DRL and heuristic rewards: a comprehensive review. Neurocomputing, 652. pp. 1-16. ISSN 0925-2312 E-ISSN 1872-8286

PDF Restricted to Registered users only Download (1MB) | Request a copy

Abstract

Robotic navigation is a critical component of autonomy, requiring efficient and safe mobility across diverse environments. The advent of Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) has spurred significant research into enabling mobile robots to learn effective navigation by optimizing actions based on environmental rewards. DRL has shown promise in addressing challenges such as dynamic environments and cooperative exploration. However, traditional DRL-based navigation faces several limitations, including the need for extensive training data, susceptibility to local traps in complex environments, low transferability to real-world scenarios, slow convergence, and low learning efficiency. Additionally, designing an appropriate reward function to achieve desired behaviors without unintended consequences remains complex; poorly designed rewards can lead to suboptimal or harmful outcomes. Recent studies have explored integrating heuristic search-based rewards into DRL algorithms to mitigate these issues. This study reviews the limitations of traditional DRL navigation and explores recent advancements in integrating heuristic search to design dynamic reward functions that enhance robot learning processes.

Item Type:	Article (Journal)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	DRL, Heuristic, search Mobile robot navigation
Subjects:	T Technology > T Technology (General)
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Engineering > Department of Mechatronics Engineering
Depositing User:	Dr Azhar Mohd Ibrahim
Date Deposited:	30 Jul 2025 15:43
Last Modified:	30 Jul 2025 15:43
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/122380

Actions (login required)

View Item