Rapidly Adapting Artificial Neural Networks for Autonomous Navigation

The ALVINN (Autonomous Land Vehicle In a Neural Network) project addresses the problem of training artificial neural networks in real time to perform difficult perception tasks. ALVINN ,is a back-propagation network that uses inputs from a video camera and an imaging laser rangefinder to drive the CMU Navlab, a modified Chevy van. This paper describes training techniques which allow ALVINN to learn in under 5 minutes to autonomously control the Navlab by watching a human driver's response to new situations. Using these techniques, ALVINN has been trained to drive in a variety of circumstances including single-lane paved and unpaved roads, multilane lined and unlined roads, and obstacle-ridden onand off-road environments, at speeds of up to 20 miles per hour.