feat: add Learning-Based Accel/Brake Map Calibrator

[CristianGariboldi]

Description

This is the PR regarding the learning-based vehicle calibration for longitudinal dynamics already discussed and presented in the discussion thread and in the Planning and Control meeting.

Tests performed

This calibrator has been tested in simulation and real vehicles. We've been using the calibrator for a different range of vehicles in Pix Moving with high accuracy.

Additional materials here:
Pix_Longitudinal_Calibration.pdf
Calibration.pptx

Effects on system behavior

This new calibrator improves the previous one in different aspects:

1. real data are interpolated with a neural network, which is able to provide a very accurate and smooth map, and can capture the non-linearities of the system;

2. the whole calibration process is very user-friendly, fast and efficient;

3. you don't need a huge amount of data for training the neural network, making the data collection process faster;

4. the learning-based approach can be easily adapted to different kind of scenarios, and not solely on the longitudinal dynamic. In my repository for example, I also included the calibration for steering/parking scenarios, just by adding 1 input to the network;

5. It can be used with a diverse range of vehicles, with different dynamics, kinematics, engines and transmission systems;

6. It has been tested in simulation and with real vehicles. We now use it for calibrating our vehicles in Pix Moving.

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[TakaHoribe]

@CristianGariboldi Thank you for your contribution! This is so great! Would you fix some checks(DCO, pre-commit)? Then, we can run the CI test.

[CristianGariboldi]

@ahuazuipiaoliang here

[Owen-Liuyuxuan]

Thank you for your contribution, and the analytics are very informative!

I hope we could further organize the steering calibration file (rename or somehow re-factor them to one single file) if that is possible.

Thank you very much.

[CristianGariboldi]

Thank you for your contribution, and the analytics are very informative!

I hope we could further organize the steering calibration file (rename or somehow re-factor them to one single file) if that is possible.

Thank you very much.

Hi @Owen-Liuyuxuan , sorry for my late reply, busy times, I have some deadlines for my imminent graduation, as soon as I will be free, I will fix this PR.

When you say to re-factor the steering calibration files to one single file are you referring to the neural network scripts?

[Owen-Liuyuxuan]

@CristianGariboldi
Yeah sure. Because for now the network_scripts_*.py is quite confusing in naming and has quite a lot of repeated code. I hope this could be further organized.

[stale]

This pull request has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity.

[mitsudome-r]

@TakaHoribe @CristianGariboldi Could you share the latest status for this PR?

[mitsudome-r]

In my opinion, this could live under autoware_tools repository.

[CristianGariboldi]

Hi @mitsudome-r , unluckily, since I finished my internship months ago, I cannot have access anymore to the company repository in this PR. I am afraid I can't modify it nor submit a new version. Let me know if I can help.
@ahuazuipiaoliang FYI

[xmfcx]

@CristianGariboldi is it ok for us to re-create this PR in https://github.com/autowarefoundation/autoware_tools repository? We'll close this one and submit a new PR there.

[CristianGariboldi]

@xmfcx hi, sorry for my late reply, busy times..
I am fine with closing this PR and submit a new one in autoware_tools.

however, I’d like to do some modifications, which I’ll explain here:

in my opinion, it would be better to keep just the calibrator of the longitudinal dynamics, and not the steering one, for several reasons.

1. first, if I am not wrong, right now autoware does not have a longitudinal calibrator which considers steering dynamics. The script for generating maps with steering dynamics generates 5 different maps for accel and brake, and autoware does not accept multiple maps based on the steering angle, so a more complex modification of autoware code is required for accepting multiple maps, which can take some time, making the calibrator of the steering dynamics NOT plug & play

2. in Pix Moving, we were highly interested in improving the accuracy of longitudinal maps in parking scenarios, so at low speeds and with high steering angles (as you can see in the results of the document attached above), which is a very specific scenario, not common in most of the applications. We did some experiments by considering the steering dynamics and collected some results. However, the longitudinal maps were very accurate anyway in most of scenarios, making them more than suitable for real world applications

3. the learning based calibrator for the longitudinal dynamics is autoware ready, plug & play without the needs of any modifications and it has been tested on a different range of real vehicles with different dynamics and kinematics. It is the actual calibrator of Pix Moving vehicles and works very well.

for these reasons, I am willing to submit a new PR in autoware_tools of the longitudinal calibrator only, for the aforementioned considerations.

please do let me know what you think about it, looking forward to hearing back from you!

[xmfcx]

@CristianGariboldi thanks for contributing with your limited time.

It would be better to keep just the calibrator of the longitudinal dynamics, and not the steering one.

I agree with all your points. Let's go with the longitudinal calibration 👍

[stale]

This pull request has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity.

[xmfcx]

Closing since

• feat: add Learning-Based Accel/Brake Map Calibrator autoware_tools#231 was created in its place.