ASPECT:Analogical Semantic Policy Execution via Language Conditioned Transfer
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Abstract (arXiv)
Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents often struggle to generalize knowledge to new tasks, even those structurally similar to ones they have mastered. Although recent approaches have attempted to mitigate this issue via zero-shot transfer, they are often constrained by predefined, discrete class systems, limiting their adaptability to novel or compositional task variations. We propose a significantly more generalized approach, replacing discrete latent variables with natural language conditioning via a text-conditioned Variational Autoencoder (VAE). Our core innovation utilizes a Large Language Model (LLM) as a dynamic textitsemantic operator at test time. Rather than relying on rigid rules, our agent queries the LLM to semantically remap the description of the current observation to align with the source task. This source-aligned caption conditions the VAE to generate an imagined state compatible with the agent's original training, enabling direct policy reuse. By harnessing the flexible reasoning capabilities of LLMs, our approach achieves zero-shot transfer across a broad spectrum of complex and truly novel analogous tasks, moving beyond the limitations of fixed category mappings. Code and videos are available hrefhttps://anonymous.4open.science/r/ASPECT-85C3/here.
Key facts. No citing papers in the map yet (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 18 of its 23 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 9 Apr 2026.
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References · 18
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6 more
- 2018A Dissection of Overfitting and Generalization in Continuous Reinforcement Learningcited by 86
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- 2020Inverse Reinforcement Learning with Natural Language Goals
- 2023Shattering the Agent-Environment Interface for Fine-Tuning Inclusive Language Models
- 2026Learning Agentic Policy from Action Guidance
- 2024Natural Language Reinforcement Learning
- 2024Entropy-Regularized Token-Level Policy Optimization for Language Agent Reinforcement