Probabilistic Robotics

Introduction

Probabilities
Bayes rule
Bayes filters
Probabilistic Robotics
Key idea:
Explicit representation of uncertainty
using the calculus of probability theory

Perception = state estimation

Action = utility optimization

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Axioms of Probability Theory
Pr(A) denotes probability that proposition A is true.

0 Pr( A) 1

Pr(True) 1 Pr( False) 0

Pr( A B) Pr( A) Pr( B) Pr( A B)

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A Closer Look at Axiom 3

Pr( A B) Pr( A) Pr( B) Pr( A B)

True
A A B B

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Using the Axioms

Pr( A A) Pr( A) Pr(A) Pr( A A)

Pr(True) Pr( A) Pr(A) Pr( False )
1 Pr( A) Pr(A) 0
Pr(A) 1 Pr( A)

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Discrete Random Variables

X denotes a random variable.

X can take on a countable number of values
in {x1, x2, , xn}.
P(X=xi), or P(xi), is the probability that the
random variable X takes on value xi.
P(.) is called probability mass function.

E.g. P( Room) 0.7,0.2,0.08,0.02

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Continuous Random Variables

X takes on values in the continuum.

p(X=x), or p(x), is a probability density
function.
b
Pr( x (a, b)) p( x)dx
a

p(x)

E.g.

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Joint and Conditional Probability
P(X=x and Y=y) = P(x,y)

If X and Y are independent then

P(x,y) = P(x) P(y)
P(x | y) is the probability of x given y
P(x | y) = P(x,y) / P(y)
P(x,y) = P(x | y) P(y)
If X and Y are independent then
P(x | y) = P(x)

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Law of Total Probability, Marginals

Discrete case Continuous case

P( x) 1
x
p( x) dx 1
P ( x ) P ( x, y ) p( x) p( x, y ) dy
y

P( x) P( x | y ) P( y ) p( x) p( x | y ) p( y ) dy
y

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Bayes Formula

P ( x, y ) P ( x | y ) P ( y ) P ( y | x ) P ( x )

P( y | x) P( x) likelihood prior
P( x y )
P( y ) evidence

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Normalization
P( y | x) P( x)
P( x y ) P( y | x) P( x)
P( y )
1
P( y ) 1

P( y | x)P( x)
x

Algorithm:
x : aux x| y P( y | x) P( x)

1

aux x| y
x

x : P( x | y ) aux x| y

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Conditioning
Law of total probability:

P ( x) P ( x, z )dz

P ( x) P ( x | z ) P ( z )dz
P ( x y ) P ( x | y, z ) P ( z | y ) dz

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Bayes Rule
with Background Knowledge

P( y | x, z ) P( x | z )
P( x | y, z )
P( y | z )

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Conditioning
Total probability:

P( x) P( x, z )dz

P( x) P( x | z ) P( z )dz
P( x y ) P( x | y, z ) P( z ) dz

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Conditional Independence

P( x, y z ) P( x | z ) P( y | z )

equivalent to
P( x z ) P( x | z , y )
and
P( y z ) P( y | z , x )

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Simple Example of State Estimation

Suppose a robot obtains measurement z

What is P(open|z)?

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Causal vs. Diagnostic Reasoning

P(open|z) is diagnostic.
P(z|open) is causal.
Often causal knowledge is easier to
obtain. count frequencies!
Bayes rule allows us to use causal
knowledge:
P( z | open) P(open)
P(open | z )
P( z )

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Example
P(z|open) = 0.6 P(z|open) = 0.3
P(open) = P(open) = 0.5
P( z | open) P(open)
P(open | z )
P( z | open) p(open) P( z | open) p(open)
0.6 0.5 2
P(open | z ) 0.67
0.6 0.5 0.3 0.5 3

z raises the probability that the door is open.

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Combining Evidence
Suppose our robot obtains another
observation z2.

How can we integrate this new

information?

More generally, how can we estimate

P(x| z1...zn )?

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 Recursive Bayesian Updating
P( zn | x, z1,, zn 1) P( x | z1,, zn 1)
P( x | z1,, zn)
P( zn | z1,, zn 1)

Markov assumption: zn is independent of z1,...,zn-1 if

we know x.

P( zn | x) P( x | z1, , zn 1)
P( x | z1, , zn)
P( zn | z1,, zn 1)
P( zn | x) P( x | z1,, zn 1)
1... n P( z | x) P( x)
i 1... n
i

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 Example: Second Measurement

P(z2|open) = 0.5 P(z2|open) = 0.6

P(open|z1)=2/3
P( z2 | open) P(open | z1 )
P(open | z2 , z1 )
P( z2 | open) P(open | z1 ) P( z2 | open) P(open | z1 )
1 2

2 3 5
0.625
1 2 3 1 8

2 3 5 3

z2 lowers the probability that the door is open.

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A Typical Pitfall
Two possible locations x1 and x2
P(x1)=0.99
P(z|x2)=0.09 P(z|x1)=0.07
1
p(x2 | d)
0.9 p(x1 | d)

0.8

0.7

0.6
p( x | d)

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Number of integrations

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Actions

Often the world is dynamic since

actions carried out by the robot,
actions carried out by other agents,
or just the time passing by
change the world.

How can we incorporate such

actions?

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Typical Actions
The robot turns its wheels to move
The robot uses its manipulator to grasp
an object
Plants grow over time

Actions are never carried out with

absolute certainty.
In contrast to measurements, actions
generally increase the uncertainty.

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Modeling Actions

To incorporate the outcome of an

action u into the current belief, we
use the conditional pdf

P(x|u,x)

This term specifies the pdf that

executing u changes the state
from x to x.

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Example: Closing the door

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State Transitions

P(x|u,x) for u = close door:

0.9
0.1 open closed 1
0

If the door is open, the action close

door succeeds in 90% of all cases.
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Integrating the Outcome of Actions
Continuous case:

P( x | u ) P( x | u, x' ) P( x' )dx'

Discrete case:

P( x | u) P( x | u, x' ) P( x' )

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Example: The Resulting Belief
P(closed | u ) P(closed | u , x' ) P( x' )
P(closed | u , open) P(open)
P(closed | u , closed ) P(closed )
9 5 1 3 15

10 8 1 8 16
P(open | u ) P(open | u , x' ) P( x' )
P(open | u , open) P(open)
P(open | u , closed ) P(closed )
1 5 0 3 1

10 8 1 8 16
1 P (closed | u )
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Bayes Filters: Framework
Given:
Stream of observations z and action data u:
dt {u1 , z1 , ut , zt }
Sensor model P(z|x).
Action model P(x|u,x).
Prior probability of the system state P(x).
Wanted:
Estimate of the state X of a dynamical system.
The posterior of the state is also called Belief:
Bel ( xt ) P( xt | u1 , z1 , ut , zt )

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Markov Assumption

p( zt | x0:t , z1:t , u1:t ) p( zt | xt )

p( xt | x1:t 1 , z1:t , u1:t ) p( xt | xt 1 , ut )
Underlying Assumptions
Static world
Independent noise
Perfect model, no approximation errors
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 z = observation
u = action
Bayes Filters x = state

Bel ( xt ) P( xt | u1, z1 , ut , zt )
Bayes P( zt | xt , u1, z1, , ut ) P( xt | u1, z1, , ut )
Markov P( zt | xt ) P( xt | u1, z1, , ut )
Total prob. P( zt | xt ) P( xt | u1 , z1 , , ut , xt 1 )
P( xt 1 | u1 , z1 , , ut ) dxt 1
Markov P( zt | xt ) P( xt | ut , xt 1 ) P( xt 1 | u1 , z1 , , ut ) dxt 1
Markov P( zt | xt ) P( xt | ut , xt 1 ) P( xt 1 | u1 , z1 , , zt 1 ) dxt 1

P( zt | xt ) P( xt | ut , xt 1 ) Bel ( xt 1 ) dxt 1
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Bayes
Bel ( xt ) Filter
P( zt | xt ) Algorithm
P( xt | ut , xt 1 ) Bel ( xt 1 ) dxt 1

1. Algorithm Bayes_filter( Bel(x),d ):

2. 0
3. If d is a perceptual data item z then
4. For all x do
5. Bel ' ( x) P( z | x) Bel ( x)
6. Bel ' ( x)
7. For all x do
8. Bel ' ( x) 1Bel ' ( x)
9. Else if d is an action data item u then
10. For all x do
11. Bel ' ( x) P( x | u, x' ) Bel ( x' ) dx'
12. Return Bel(x)

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Bayes Filters are Familiar!

Bel ( xt ) P( zt | xt ) P( xt | ut , xt 1 ) Bel ( xt 1 ) dxt 1

Kalman filters
Particle filters
Hidden Markov models
Dynamic Bayesian networks
Partially Observable Markov Decision
Processes (POMDPs)

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Summary
Bayes rule allows us to compute
probabilities that are hard to assess
otherwise.
Under the Markov assumption,
recursive Bayesian updating can be
used to efficiently combine evidence.
Bayes filters are a probabilistic tool
for estimating the state of dynamic
systems.
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