aiqbench analysis
This research introduces Q-SpiRL, a hybrid framework that integrates quantum-enhanced spiking neural networks into reinforcement learning for adaptive robot navigation. By combining spike-based temporal processing with variational quantum feature transformation on IBM hardware, the study demonstrates improved trajectory efficiency and success rates in dynamic grid-world environments compared to classical baselines. The work highlights practical feasibility of deploying such architectures on current quantum devices while addressing core challenges in robotics control policies.
Q-SpiRL: Quantum Spiking Reinforcement Learning for Adaptive Robot Navigation
arXiv:2605.20801v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Adaptive robot navigation in dynamic environments requires policies that can reach the target reliably while producing efficient and stable trajectories. This paper presents Q-SpiRL, a quantum spiking reinforcement learning framework for obstacle-aware robot navigation. The framework develops and evaluates five agent families: tabular Q-learning, classical MLP, classical SNN, quantum-enhanced MLP (QMLP), and quantum-enhanced spiking neural network (QSNN). While all models are implemented under a unified training and evaluation pipeline, the QSNN is the central architecture of interest, as it combines spike-based temporal processing with variational quantum feature transformation. Experiments are conducted across three grid-world environments of increasing size, namely 20x20, 30x30, and 40x40, with both static and dynamic obstacles. Performance is assessed using success rate, success-weighted path length, path length, and turn rate under deterministic inference. Results show that QSNN achieves the strongest overall trade-off between task completion, trajectory efficiency, and motion smoothness, reaching up to 99% success rate while maintaining high path efficiency in the most challenging setting. Execution on IBM quantum hardware further demonstrates the feasibility of deploying the proposed hybrid policy under real-device conditions.
Abstract:Adaptive robot navigation in dynamic environments requires policies that can reach the target reliably while producing efficient and stable trajectories. This paper presents Q-SpiRL, a quantum spiking reinforcement learning framework for obstacle-aware robot navigation. The framework develops and evaluates five agent families: tabular Q-learning, classical MLP, classical SNN, quantum-enhanced MLP (QMLP), and quantum-enhanced spiking neural network (QSNN). While all models are implemented under a unified training and evaluation pipeline, the QSNN is the central architecture of interest, as it combines spike-based temporal processing with variational quantum feature transformation. Experiments are conducted across three grid-world environments of increasing size, namely 20x20, 30x30, and 40x40, with both static and dynamic obstacles. Performance is assessed using success rate, success-weighted path length, path length, and turn rate under deterministic inference. Results show that QSNN achieves the strongest overall trade-off between task completion, trajectory efficiency, and motion smoothness, reaching up to 99% success rate while maintaining high path efficiency in the most challenging setting. Execution on IBM quantum hardware further demonstrates the feasibility of deploying the proposed hybrid policy under real-device conditions.
Robotics (cs.RO); Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
arXiv:2605.20801 [cs.RO]
(or arXiv:2605.20801v2 [cs.RO] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.20801 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite
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