# RL for robot navigation and UAV control

Area: [Deep reinforcement learning methods](https://mlsanity.com/deeprl/index.md). HTML: https://mlsanity.com/deeprl/rl-for-robot-navigation-and-uav-control/

## Key facts

- RL for robot navigation and UAV control: 579 papers on arXiv since 2024 (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- 13 of its 579 mapped papers (2%) cite “Demonstrating Agile Flight from Pixels without State Estimation” (2024, arXiv 2406.12505).
- 11 of its 579 mapped papers (2%) cite “Bootstrapping Reinforcement Learning with Imitation for Vision-Based Agile Flight” (2024, arXiv 2403.12203).
- 13 new papers 30 Sep–14 Oct.

## Most cited here

- [Demonstrating Agile Flight from Pixels without State Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.12505/) (2024), cited by 13 papers here
- [Bootstrapping Reinforcement Learning with Imitation for Vision-Based Agile Flight](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.12203/) (2024), cited by 11 papers here
- [Multi-Task Reinforcement Learning for Quadrotors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.12442/) (2024), cited by 11 papers here
- [NavRL: Learning Safe Flight in Dynamic Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.15634/) (2024), cited by 9 papers here
- [MAVRL: Learn to Fly in Cluttered Environments with Varying Speed](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.08381/) (2024), cited by 8 papers here
- [Reinforcement learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.10369/) (2024), cited by 8 papers here
- [Reinforcement Learning for Collision-free Flight Exploiting Deep Collision Encoding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.03947/) (2024), cited by 7 papers here
- [Learning Quadrotor Control From Visual Features Using Differentiable Simulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.15979/) (2024), cited by 6 papers here
- [Socially Integrated Navigation: A Social Acting Robot with Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.09793/) (2024), cited by 4 papers here
- [Deep Reinforcement Learning-based Large-scale Robot Exploration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.10833/) (2024), cited by 4 papers here

## New (30 Sep–14 Oct)

- [Adversarial Reinforcement Learning for Robust Planetary Landing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.20252/) (2026-10-14)
- [E2DRL: End-to-End Differentiable Reinforcement Learning for 3D Obstacle Avoidance in Quadruped Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.19627/) (2026-10-14)
- [From Orbit Matching to Docking: A Hierarchical Reinforcement-Learning Approach to Multiphase Rendezvous Trajectory Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.17468/) (2026-10-12)
- [Phase-Gated Constrained Reinforcement Learning for End-to-End Capture and Detumbling of Non-Cooperative Targets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.15491/) (2026-10-11)
- [Reinforcement Learning Based Heterogeneous Task Allocation Under Spatio-Temporal Environmental Uncertainty for Multi-Robot Teams](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.15237/) (2026-10-11)
- [Sim-to-Real RL for ASVs using SysID](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.12202/) (2026-10-08)
- [Visual Swarm Navigation via Deep Reinforcement Learning and Evolutionary Hybrid Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.06400/) (2026-10-05)
- [Transporting Unsecured Stacked Payloads with a Quadrupedal Robot via Multi-Objective Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.05819/) (2026-10-05)
- [End-to-End Safe Social Navigation via Multi-Task Reinforcement Learning and Probabilistic Perception](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.05733/) (2026-10-05)
- [A Unified Dynamics Framework for Reinforcement Learning and Classical Control of a Six-DOF Pipeline-Tracking ROV in NVIDIA Isaac Sim](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.04949/) (2026-10-04)
- [Barrier-Shaped Recurrent Reinforcement Learning for Autonomous Landing on a Heaving Ship Deck](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.03924/) (2026-10-02)
- [Reachability-Informed Reinforcement Learning for Multi-Impulse Interplanetary Transfers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.01344/) (2026-10-01)
- [RL-Guided PAC-NMPC for Probabilistically-Safe Perception-Based Navigation in Unknown Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.39854/) (2026-09-30)