Cautious Bayesian Optimization: A Line Tracker Case Study

Sensors (Basel). 2023 Aug 18;23(16):7266. doi: 10.3390/s23167266.

Abstract

In this paper, a procedure for experimental optimization under safety constraints, to be denoted as constraint-aware Bayesian Optimization, is presented. The basic ingredients are a performance objective function and a constraint function; both of them will be modeled as Gaussian processes. We incorporate a prior model (transfer learning) used for the mean of the Gaussian processes, a semi-parametric Kernel, and acquisition function optimization under chance-constrained requirements. In this way, experimental fine-tuning of a performance objective under experiment-model mismatch can be safely carried out. The methodology is illustrated in a case study on a line-follower application in a CoppeliaSim environment.

Keywords: Bayesian optimization; Gaussian processes; chance-constrained optimization; experimental optimization; safety constraints.