Machine learning (ML) has become a pervasive tool across computing systems. An emerging application that stress-tests the challenges of ML system design is tiny robot learning, the deployment of ML on resource-constrained low-cost autonomous robots. Tiny robot learning lies at the intersection of embedded systems, robotics, and ML, compounding the challenges of these domains. Tiny robot learning is subject to challenges from size, weight, area, and power (SWAP) constraints; sensor, actuator, and compute hardware limitations; end-to-end system tradeoffs; and a large diversity of possible deployment scenarios. Tiny robot learning requires ML models to be designed with these challenges in mind, providing a crucible that reveals the necessity of holistic ML system design and automated end-to-end design tools for agile development. This paper gives a brief survey of the tiny robot learning space, elaborates on key challenges, and proposes promising opportunities for future work in ML system design. ... Read more

Nano quadcopters are ideal for gas source localization (GSL) as they are safe, agile and inexpensive. However, their extremely restricted sensors and computational resources make GSL a daunting challenge. We propose a novel bug algorithm named ‘Sniffy Bug', which allows a fully autonomous swarm of gas-seeking nano quadcopters to localize a gas source in unknown, cluttered, and GPS-denied environments. The computationally efficient, mapless algorithm foresees in the avoidance of obstacles and other swarm members, while pursuing desired waypoints. The waypoints are first set for exploration, and, when a single swarm member has sensed the gas, by a particle swarm optimization-based (PSO) procedure. We evolve all the parameters of the bug (and PSO) algorithm using our novel simulation pipeline, ‘AutoGDM'. It builds on and expands open source tools in order to enable fully automated end-to-end environment generation and gas dispersion modeling, allowing for learning in simulation. Flight tests show that Sniffy Bug with evolved parameters outperforms manually selected parameters in cluttered, real-world environments. Videos: https://bit.ly/37MmtdL ... Read more