Reinforcement Learning for Reconfigurable Robotic Soccer

Robots are showing great impact and, in recent trends, appearing in areas such as education and entertainment. Robotic soccer is becoming more prevalent in competitions, furthering research in robotics and artificial intelligence. Reconfigurable robotics is used in application domains such as cleani...

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Main Authors: M. Shameer Ahamed, J. J. J. Pey, S. M. Bhagya P. Samarakoon, M. A. Viraj J. Muthugala, Mohan Rajesh Elara
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
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Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10858137/
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author M. Shameer Ahamed
J. J. J. Pey
S. M. Bhagya P. Samarakoon
M. A. Viraj J. Muthugala
Mohan Rajesh Elara
author_facet M. Shameer Ahamed
J. J. J. Pey
S. M. Bhagya P. Samarakoon
M. A. Viraj J. Muthugala
Mohan Rajesh Elara
author_sort M. Shameer Ahamed
collection DOAJ
description Robots are showing great impact and, in recent trends, appearing in areas such as education and entertainment. Robotic soccer is becoming more prevalent in competitions, furthering research in robotics and artificial intelligence. Reconfigurable robotics is used in application domains such as cleaning, multi-terrain locomotion, and logistical support, but reconfigurability has yet to be introduced in robotic soccer. Using reconfigurable robots provides increased flexibility and adaptability in the game of soccer. This paper proposes Reinforcement Learning (RL) to train an agent to kick a ball toward a goal using reconfiguration. RL was used with the Proximal Policy Optimisation (PPO) algorithm to train and optimise goal scoring. The environment was developed and trained in Unity. Training included the agent learning to approach the ball in an optimal position to hit the ball into a goal using reconfiguration. Two use cases of penalty and free kicks were used to validate the accuracy of the proposed model, which resulted in goal conversion of 81% and 67%, respectively. Moreover, the results confirm that this method allows a reconfigurable robot to adapt to the soccer field and perform the best move out of the myriad possibilities in this complex yet competitive game.
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issn 2169-3536
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher IEEE
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series IEEE Access
spelling doaj-art-e08f0c2448d8481d9946c602d47bcc6f2025-02-07T00:01:34ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362025-01-0113223142232410.1109/ACCESS.2025.353649710858137Reinforcement Learning for Reconfigurable Robotic SoccerM. Shameer Ahamed0J. J. J. Pey1S. M. Bhagya P. Samarakoon2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3458-5006M. A. Viraj J. Muthugala3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3598-5570Mohan Rajesh Elara4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6504-1530Engineering Product Development Pillar, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Tampines, SingaporeEngineering Product Development Pillar, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Tampines, SingaporeEngineering Product Development Pillar, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Tampines, SingaporeEngineering Product Development Pillar, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Tampines, SingaporeEngineering Product Development Pillar, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Tampines, SingaporeRobots are showing great impact and, in recent trends, appearing in areas such as education and entertainment. Robotic soccer is becoming more prevalent in competitions, furthering research in robotics and artificial intelligence. Reconfigurable robotics is used in application domains such as cleaning, multi-terrain locomotion, and logistical support, but reconfigurability has yet to be introduced in robotic soccer. Using reconfigurable robots provides increased flexibility and adaptability in the game of soccer. This paper proposes Reinforcement Learning (RL) to train an agent to kick a ball toward a goal using reconfiguration. RL was used with the Proximal Policy Optimisation (PPO) algorithm to train and optimise goal scoring. The environment was developed and trained in Unity. Training included the agent learning to approach the ball in an optimal position to hit the ball into a goal using reconfiguration. Two use cases of penalty and free kicks were used to validate the accuracy of the proposed model, which resulted in goal conversion of 81% and 67%, respectively. Moreover, the results confirm that this method allows a reconfigurable robot to adapt to the soccer field and perform the best move out of the myriad possibilities in this complex yet competitive game.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10858137/Reconfigurable roboticsrobotic soccerreinforcement learning
spellingShingle M. Shameer Ahamed
J. J. J. Pey
S. M. Bhagya P. Samarakoon
M. A. Viraj J. Muthugala
Mohan Rajesh Elara
Reinforcement Learning for Reconfigurable Robotic Soccer
IEEE Access
Reconfigurable robotics
robotic soccer
reinforcement learning
title Reinforcement Learning for Reconfigurable Robotic Soccer
title_full Reinforcement Learning for Reconfigurable Robotic Soccer
title_fullStr Reinforcement Learning for Reconfigurable Robotic Soccer
title_full_unstemmed Reinforcement Learning for Reconfigurable Robotic Soccer
title_short Reinforcement Learning for Reconfigurable Robotic Soccer
title_sort reinforcement learning for reconfigurable robotic soccer
topic Reconfigurable robotics
robotic soccer
reinforcement learning
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10858137/
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AT jjjpey reinforcementlearningforreconfigurableroboticsoccer
AT smbhagyapsamarakoon reinforcementlearningforreconfigurableroboticsoccer
AT mavirajjmuthugala reinforcementlearningforreconfigurableroboticsoccer
AT mohanrajeshelara reinforcementlearningforreconfigurableroboticsoccer