High precision robotic manipulation with reinforcement learning and Sim2Real

High precision robotic assembly that handles high product variability is a key part of an agile and a flexible manufacturing automation system. To date however, most of the existing systems are difficult to scale with product variability since they need precise models of the environment dynamics in order to be efficient. This information is not always easy to get. Reinforcement learning based methods can be of interest in this situation. They do not rely on the environment dynamics and only need sample data from the system to learn a new manipulation skill. The main caveat is the efficiency of the data generation process. In this post-doc, we propose to investigate the use of reinforcement learning based algorithms to solve high precision robotic assembly tasks. To handle the problem of sample generation we leverage the use of simulators and adopt a sim2real approach. The goal is to build a system than can solve tasks such as those proposed in the World Robot Challenge and tasks that the CEA’s industrial partners will provide.