Goal Space Abstraction in Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning via Set-Based Reachability Analysis

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Zadem, Mehdi, Mover, Sergio, Nguyen, Sao Mai
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Zadem, Mehdi
Mover, Sergio
Nguyen, Sao Mai
author_facet Zadem, Mehdi
Mover, Sergio
Nguyen, Sao Mai
contents Open-ended learning benefits immensely from the use of symbolic methods for goal representation as they offer ways to structure knowledge for efficient and transferable learning. However, the existing Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning (HRL) approaches relying on symbolic reasoning are often limited as they require a manual goal representation. The challenge in autonomously discovering a symbolic goal representation is that it must preserve critical information, such as the environment dynamics. In this paper, we propose a developmental mechanism for goal discovery via an emergent representation that abstracts (i.e., groups together) sets of environment states that have similar roles in the task. We introduce a Feudal HRL algorithm that concurrently learns both the goal representation and a hierarchical policy. The algorithm uses symbolic reachability analysis for neural networks to approximate the transition relation among sets of states and to refine the goal representation. We evaluate our approach on complex navigation tasks, showing the learned representation is interpretable, transferrable and results in data efficient learning.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2309_07675
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Goal Space Abstraction in Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning via Set-Based Reachability Analysis
Zadem, Mehdi
Mover, Sergio
Nguyen, Sao Mai
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
K.3.2
Open-ended learning benefits immensely from the use of symbolic methods for goal representation as they offer ways to structure knowledge for efficient and transferable learning. However, the existing Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning (HRL) approaches relying on symbolic reasoning are often limited as they require a manual goal representation. The challenge in autonomously discovering a symbolic goal representation is that it must preserve critical information, such as the environment dynamics. In this paper, we propose a developmental mechanism for goal discovery via an emergent representation that abstracts (i.e., groups together) sets of environment states that have similar roles in the task. We introduce a Feudal HRL algorithm that concurrently learns both the goal representation and a hierarchical policy. The algorithm uses symbolic reachability analysis for neural networks to approximate the transition relation among sets of states and to refine the goal representation. We evaluate our approach on complex navigation tasks, showing the learned representation is interpretable, transferrable and results in data efficient learning.
title Goal Space Abstraction in Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning via Set-Based Reachability Analysis
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
K.3.2
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.07675