This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Panangadan, A. Articles by Dyer, M. G. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Construction in a Simulated Environment Using Temporal Goal Sequencing and Reinforcement Learning

Saban Research Institute, Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, anandvp{at}usc.edu

Michael G. Dyer

Computer Science Department, University of California Los Angeles, dyer{at}cs.ucla.edu

A behavior-based architecture (ConAg) with a connectionist action selection mechanism is introduced that enables a society of autonomous agents to construct arbitrary structures in their simulated two-dimensional world. Construction in this environment involves the agents picking up colored discs and dropping them at incomplete parts of the structure being built.

The ConAg architecture provides both reactive behaviors which are used to maintain the viability of the agent and navigational planning behaviors that are used for construction. The action selection mechanism enables learning the sequence of behaviors required for construction by reinforcement learning. The navigational planning behaviors use a grid-based representation of the world. The shape of the structure to be built is also encoded on an internal spatial map. Path planning is implemented by spreading activations on sets of grid-based maps so that the agents perform the construction task efficiently. Construction of arbitrary structures is supported by temporal sequencing of goals. We present simulation results that demonstrate the performance of the architecture and algorithms.

Key Words: construction • reinforcement learning • spatial map • spreading activation

Adaptive Behavior, Vol. 17, No. 1, 81-104 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1059712308101787


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?