My research focused on the intersection of robotics, formal methods and machine learning. I am particularly interested in formal verification of neural networks applied to autonomous robotic systems. I am currently working on the combination of machine learning technique and formal methods, i.e., temporal logic, to provide safe and interpretable control algorithm to autonomous system.

TLINet: Differentiable Neural Network Temporal Logic Inference

There has been a growing interest in extracting formal descriptions of system behaviors from data. In this work, we specifically focus on the Temporal Logic Inference problem. The goal is to learn Signal Temporal Logic (STL) formulas from time-series data that describes the spatial-temporal properties of data.

 

We propose TLINet, a neural-symbolic framework for learning STL formulas. The computation in TLINet is differentiable, enabling the usage of off-the-shelf gradient-based tools during the learning process. In contrast to existing approaches, we introduce approximation methods for max operator designed specifically for temporal logic-based gradient techniques, ensuring the correctness of STL satisfaction evaluation. Our framework not only learns the structure but also the parameters of STL formulas, allowing flexible combinations of operators and various logical structures.

 

This framework bridges the gap between machine learning and control theory, providing a powerful tool for designing intelligent and interpretable automation systems.