# HG-DAgger: Interactive Imitation Learning with Human Experts

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.02890 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.02890/

## Key facts

- Cited by 266 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Imitation learning methods, one of 13 directions in Offline RL and imitation learning from data.
- Builds on 9 of its 31 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 5 Oct 2018.

## Placed in

- Offline RL and imitation learning from data / [Imitation learning methods](https://mlsanity.com/offlinerl/imitation-learning-methods/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [Simple and Scalable Predictive Uncertainty Estimation using Deep Ensembles](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.01474/) (2016)
- [End to End Learning for Self-Driving Cars](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1604.07316/) (2016)
- [Neural Processes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.01622/) (2018)
- [Trial without Error: Towards Safe Reinforcement Learning via Human Intervention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.05173/) (2017)
- [EnsembleDAgger: A Bayesian Approach to Safe Imitation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.08364/) (2018)
- [Query-Efficient Imitation Learning for End-to-End Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1605.06450/) (2016)
- [Interactive Policy Learning through Confidence-Based Autonomy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1401.3439/) (2014)
- [Comparing Human-Centric and Robot-Centric Sampling for Robot Deep Learning from Demonstrations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1610.00850/) (2016)
- [Agile Autonomous Driving using End-to-End Deep Imitation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1709.07174/) (2017)

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 266)

- [Learning Fine-Grained Bimanual Manipulation with Low-Cost Hardware](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.13705/) (2023)
- [On-Policy Distillation of Language Models: Learning from Self-Generated Mistakes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.13649/) (2023)
- [BC-Z: Zero-Shot Task Generalization with Robotic Imitation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.02005/) (2022)
- [Robotic Control via Embodied Chain-of-Thought Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.08693/) (2024)
- [π*0.6: a VLA That Learns From Experience](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.14759/) (2025)
- [Interactive Language: Talking to Robots in Real Time](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.06407/) (2022)
- [RT-H: Action Hierarchies Using Language](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.01823/) (2024)
- [ConRFT: A Reinforced Fine-tuning Method for VLA Models via Consistency Policy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.05450/) (2025)
- [A Survey of Imitation Learning: Algorithms, Recent Developments, and Challenges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.02473/) (2023)
- [Human-in-the-Loop Imitation Learning using Remote Teleoperation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.06733/) (2020)
- [ThriftyDAgger: Budget-Aware Novelty and Risk Gating for Interactive Imitation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.08273/) (2021)
- [Robot Learning on the Job: Human-in-the-Loop Autonomy and Learning During Deployment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.08416/) (2022)
- [UniDexGrasp++: Improving Dexterous Grasping Policy Learning via Geometry-aware Curriculum and Iterative Generalist-Specialist Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.00464/) (2023)
- [AutoRT: Embodied Foundation Models for Large Scale Orchestration of Robotic Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.12963/) (2024)
- [Self-Improving Vision-Language-Action Models with Data Generation via Residual RL](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.00091/) (2025)
- [Learning and Retrieval from Prior Data for Skill-based Imitation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.11435/) (2022)
- [Data Quality in Imitation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.02437/) (2023)
- [Unpacking Failure Modes of Generative Policies: Runtime Monitoring of Consistency and Progress](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.04640/) (2024)
- [Imitating Task and Motion Planning with Visuomotor Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.16309/) (2023)
- [The Wisdom of Hindsight Makes Language Models Better Instruction Followers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.05206/) (2023)
- [Real-World Robot Applications of Foundation Models: A Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.05741/) (2024)
- ["No, to the Right" -- Online Language Corrections for Robotic Manipulation via Shared Autonomy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.02555/) (2023)
- [Multi-Stage Cable Routing through Hierarchical Imitation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.08927/) (2023)
- [TRANSIC: Sim-to-Real Policy Transfer by Learning from Online Correction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.10315/) (2024)
- [Behavior Retrieval: Few-Shot Imitation Learning by Querying Unlabeled Datasets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.08742/) (2023)
- [NeRF in the Palm of Your Hand: Corrective Augmentation for Robotics via Novel-View Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.08556/) (2023)
- [HYDRA: Hybrid Robot Actions for Imitation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.17237/) (2023)
- [Bidirectional Decoding: Improving Action Chunking via Guided Test-Time Sampling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.17355/) (2024)
- [LazyDAgger: Reducing Context Switching in Interactive Imitation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.00053/) (2021)
- [Learning Generalizable Dexterous Manipulation from Human Grasp Affordance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.02320/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Imitation learning has proven to be useful for many real-world problems, but approaches such as behavioral cloning suffer from data mismatch and compounding error issues. One attempt to address these limitations is the DAgger algorithm, which uses the state distribution induced by the novice to sample corrective actions from the expert. Such sampling schemes, however, require the expert to provide action labels without being fully in control of the system. This can decrease safety and, when using humans as experts, is likely to degrade the quality of the collected labels due to perceived actuator lag. In this work, we propose HG-DAgger, a variant of DAgger that is more suitable for interactive imitation learning from human experts in real-world systems. In addition to training a novice policy, HG-DAgger also learns a safety threshold for a model-uncertainty-based risk metric that can be used to predict the performance of the fully trained novice in different regions of the state space. We evaluate our method on both a simulated and real-world autonomous driving task, and demonstrate improved performance over both DAgger and behavioral cloning.