# Learning a Set of Interrelated Tasks by Using Sequences of Motor Policies for a Strategic Intrinsically Motivated Learner

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.04877 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.04877/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 11 Oct 2018.

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Goal Space Abstraction in Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning via Set-Based Reachability Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.07675/) (2023)
- [Intrinsically Motivated Open-Ended Multi-Task Learning Using Transfer Learning to Discover Task Hierarchy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.09854/) (2021)
- [Robots Learn Increasingly Complex Tasks with Intrinsic Motivation and Automatic Curriculum Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.10222/) (2022)
- [Goal Space Abstraction in Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning via Reachability Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.07168/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We propose an active learning architecture for robots, capable of organizing its learning process to achieve a field of complex tasks by learning sequences of motor policies, called Intrinsically Motivated Procedure Babbling (IM-PB). The learner can generalize over its experience to continuously learn new tasks. It chooses actively what and how to learn based by empirical measures of its own progress. In this paper, we are considering the learning of a set of interrelated tasks outcomes hierarchically organized. We introduce a framework called 'procedures', which are sequences of policies defined by the combination of previously learned skills. Our algorithmic architecture uses the procedures to autonomously discover how to combine simple skills to achieve complex goals. It actively chooses between 2 strategies of goal-directed exploration : exploration of the policy space or the procedural space. We show on a simulated environment that our new architecture is capable of tackling the learning of complex motor policies, to adapt the complexity of its policies to the task at hand. We also show that our 'procedures' framework helps the learner to tackle difficult hierarchical tasks.