ASPIRe: An Informative Trajectory Planner with Mutual Information Approximation for Target Search and Tracking

This paper proposes an informative trajectory planning approach, namely, \textit{adaptive particle filter tree with sigma point-based mutual information reward approximation} (ASPIRe), for mobile target search and tracking (SAT) in cluttered environments with limited sensing field of view. We develop a novel sigma point-based approximation to accurately estimate mutual information (MI) for general, non-Gaussian distributions utilizing particle representation of the belief state, while simultaneously maintaining high computational efficiency. Building upon the MI approximation, we develop the Adaptive Particle Filter Tree (APFT) approach with MI as the reward, which features belief state tree nodes for informative trajectory planning in continuous state and measurement spaces. An adaptive criterion is proposed in APFT to adjust the planning horizon based on the expected information gain. Simulations and physical experiments demonstrate that ASPIRe achieves real-time computation and outperforms benchmark methods in terms of both search efficiency and estimation accuracy.

IntactKV: Improving Large Language Model Quantization by Keeping Pivot Tokens Intact

Large language models (LLMs) excel in natural language processing but demand intensive computation. To mitigate this, various quantization methods have been explored, yet they compromise LLM performance. This paper unveils a previously overlooked type of outlier in LLMs. Such outliers are found to allocate most of the attention scores on initial tokens of input, termed as pivot tokens, which is crucial to the performance of quantized LLMs. Given that, we propose IntactKV to generate the KV cache of pivot tokens losslessly from the full-precision model. The approach is simple and easy to combine with existing quantization solutions. Besides, IntactKV can be calibrated as additional LLM parameters to boost the quantized LLMs further. Mathematical analysis also proves that IntactKV effectively reduces the upper bound of quantization error. Empirical results show that IntactKV brings consistent improvement and achieves lossless weight-only INT4 quantization on various downstream tasks, leading to the new state-of-the-art for LLM quantization.

Generative Learning for Forecasting the Dynamics of Complex Systems

We introduce generative models for accelerating simulations of complex systems through learning and evolving their effective dynamics. In the proposed Generative Learning of Effective Dynamics (G-LED), instances of high dimensional data are down sampled to a lower dimensional manifold that is evolved through an auto-regressive attention mechanism. In turn, Bayesian diffusion models, that map this low-dimensional manifold onto its corresponding high-dimensional space, capture the statistics of the system dynamics. We demonstrate the capabilities and drawbacks of G-LED in simulations of several benchmark systems, including the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky (KS) equation, two-dimensional high Reynolds number flow over a backward-facing step, and simulations of three-dimensional turbulent channel flow. The results demonstrate that generative learning offers new frontiers for the accurate forecasting of the statistical properties of complex systems at a reduced computational cost.

SwarmPRM: Probabilistic Roadmap Motion Planning for Swarm Robotic Systems

Swarm robotic systems consisting of large-scale cooperative agents hold promise for performing autonomous tasks in diverse fields. However, existing planning strategies for swarm robotic systems often encounter a trade-off between scalability and solution quality. We introduce here SwarmPRM, a hierarchical, highly scalable, computationally efficient, and risk-aware sampling-based motion planning approach for swarm robotic systems, which is asymptotically optimal under mild assumptions. We employ probability density functions (PDFs) to represent the swarm's macroscopic state and utilize optimal mass transport (OMT) theory to measure the swarm's cost to go. A risk-aware Gaussian roadmap is constructed wherein each node encapsulates a distinct PDF and conditional-value-at-risk (CVaR) is employed to assess the collision risk, facilitating the generation of macroscopic PDFs in Wasserstein-GMM space. Extensive simulations demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of computational efficiency and the average travelling distance.

ROVER: Risk-Aware Swarm Robotics MOtion Planner Using Conditional ValuE at Risk

The field of swarm robotics has attracted considerable interest for its capacity to complete intricate and synchronized tasks. Existing methodologies for motion planning within swarm robotic systems mainly encounter difficulties in scalability and safety guarantee. To address these two limitations, we propose a Risk-aware swarm mOtion planner using conditional ValuE at Risk (ROVER) that systematically modulates the safety and conservativeness and navigates the swarm to the target area through cluttered environments. Our approach formulates a finite-time model predictive control (FTMPC) problem predicated upon the macroscopic state of the robot swarm represented by Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and integrates conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) to avoid collision. We leverage the linearized Signed Distance Function for the efficient computation of CVaR concerning the proximity between the robot swarm to obstacles. The key component of this method is implementing CVaR constraint under GMM uncertainty in the FTMPC to measure the collision risk that a robot swarm faces. However, the non-convex constrained FTMPC is nontrival to solve. To navigate this complexity, we develop a computationally tractable strategy through 1) an explicit linear approximation of the CVaR constraint; and 2) a sequential quadratic programming formulation. Simulations and comparisons with other approaches demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in flexibility, scalability, and risk mitigation.

The Development of LLMs for Embodied Navigation

In recent years, the rapid advancement of Large Language Models (LLMs) such as the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) has attracted increasing attention due to their potential in a variety of practical applications. The application of LLMs with Embodied Intelligence has emerged as a significant area of focus. Among the myriad applications of LLMs, navigation tasks are particularly noteworthy because they demand a deep understanding of the environment and quick, accurate decision-making. LLMs can augment embodied intelligence systems with sophisticated environmental perception and decision-making support, leveraging their robust language and image-processing capabilities. This article offers an exhaustive summary of the symbiosis between LLMs and embodied intelligence with a focus on navigation. It reviews state-of-the-art models, research methodologies, and assesses the advantages and disadvantages of existing embodied navigation models and datasets. Finally, the article elucidates the role of LLMs in embodied intelligence, based on current research, and forecasts future directions in the field. A comprehensive list of studies in this survey is available at https://github.com/Rongtao-Xu/Awesome-LLM-EN

Bayesian Conditional Diffusion Models for Versatile Spatiotemporal Turbulence Generation

Turbulent flows have historically presented formidable challenges to predictive computational modeling. Traditional numerical simulations often require vast computational resources, making them infeasible for numerous engineering applications. As an alternative, deep learning-based surrogate models have emerged, offering data-drive solutions. However, these are typically constructed within deterministic settings, leading to shortfall in capturing the innate chaotic and stochastic behaviors of turbulent dynamics. We introduce a novel generative framework grounded in probabilistic diffusion models for versatile generation of spatiotemporal turbulence. Our method unifies both unconditional and conditional sampling strategies within a Bayesian framework, which can accommodate diverse conditioning scenarios, including those with a direct differentiable link between specified conditions and generated unsteady flow outcomes, and scenarios lacking such explicit correlations. A notable feature of our approach is the method proposed for long-span flow sequence generation, which is based on autoregressive gradient-based conditional sampling, eliminating the need for cumbersome retraining processes. We showcase the versatile turbulence generation capability of our framework through a suite of numerical experiments, including: 1) the synthesis of LES simulated instantaneous flow sequences from URANS inputs; 2) holistic generation of inhomogeneous, anisotropic wall-bounded turbulence, whether from given initial conditions, prescribed turbulence statistics, or entirely from scratch; 3) super-resolved generation of high-speed turbulent boundary layer flows from low-resolution data across a range of input resolutions. Collectively, our numerical experiments highlight the merit and transformative potential of the proposed methods, making a significant advance in the field of turbulence generation.

Exploring the Optimization Objective of One-Class Classification for Anomaly Detection

One-class classification (OCC) is a longstanding method for anomaly detection. With the powerful representation capability of the pre-trained backbone, OCC methods have witnessed significant performance improvements. Typically, most of these OCC methods employ transfer learning to enhance the discriminative nature of the pre-trained backbone's features, thus achieving remarkable efficacy. While most current approaches emphasize feature transfer strategies, we argue that the optimization objective space within OCC methods could also be an underlying critical factor influencing performance. In this work, we conducted a thorough investigation into the optimization objective of OCC. Through rigorous theoretical analysis and derivation, we unveil a key insights: any space with the suitable norm can serve as an equivalent substitute for the hypersphere center, without relying on the distribution assumption of training samples. Further, we provide guidelines for determining the feasible domain of norms for the OCC optimization objective. This novel insight sparks a simple and data-agnostic deep one-class classification method. Our method is straightforward, with a single 1x1 convolutional layer as a trainable projector and any space with suitable norm as the optimization objective. Extensive experiments validate the reliability and efficacy of our findings and the corresponding methodology, resulting in state-of-the-art performance in both one-class classification and industrial vision anomaly detection and segmentation tasks.