Efficient Robot Skill Learning: Grounded Simulation Learning and Imitation Learning from Observation

Abstract:
For autonomous robots to operate in the open, dynamically changing world, they will need to be able to learn a robust set of skills from relatively little experience.  This talk begins by introducing Grounded Simulation Learning as a way to bridge the so-called reality gap between simulators and the real world in order to enable transfer learning from simulation to a real robot.  It then introduces two new algorithms for imitation learning from observation that enable a robot to mimic demonstrated skills from state-only trajectories, without any knowledge of the actions selected by the demonstrator. Grounded Simulation Learning has led to the fastest known stable walk on a widely used humanoid robot, and imitation learning from observation opens the possibility of robots learning from the vast trove of videos available online.

Bio:
Peter Stone is the founder and director of the Learning Agents Research Group (LARG) within the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in the Department of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, as well as associate department chair and chair of the University's Robotics Portfolio Program. He is also the President, COO, and co-founder of Cogitai, Inc.

"My main research interest in AI is understanding how we can best create complete intelligent agents. I consider adaptation, interaction, and embodiment to be essential capabilities of such agents. Thus, my research focuses mainly on machine learning, multiagent systems, and robotics. To me, the most exciting research topics are those inspired by challenging real-world problems. I believe that complete successful research includes both precise, novel algorithms and fully implemented and rigorously evaluated applications. My application domains have included robot soccer, autonomous bidding agents, autonomous vehicles, autonomic computing, and social agents."
- Peter Stone (via website)