Layout-independent actuation allocator for fin-actuated marine robots

Abstract

In this study, we propose a layout-independent control allocator capable of zero-shot deployment across diverse actuator configurations. The proposed method utilizes a learning pipeline that integrates a Graph Neural Network (GNN) and a Transformer to represent the robot's geometric layout as a graph, along with a Mixture Density Network (MDN) to predict multi-modal control command distributions. Furthermore, by incorporating a differentiable physics surrogate model, we achieve command refinement during inference to minimize target wrench tracking error and energy consumption. A single generalized model using randomly generated actuator layout data demonstrated high trajectory tracking performance on different actuator layout robots outside the training distribution. Additionally, in real-world pool experiments, our approach achieved performance nearly equivalent to conventional controllers designed to specific layouts.