Introduction
Reinforcement learning is a field of machine learning that’s concerned with how software and robots can learn to modify their behavior in order to maximize some kind of reward. The “reinforcement” part of it comes from the idea that the robot learns by trying different things and receiving feedback on whether those things were successful or not. Theoretical problems with reinforcement learning have been around for a long time, but recent breakthroughs have allowed computers to beat humans at games like Go and poker. The biggest problem with reinforcement learning is that it’s very difficult for machines to know the difference between what’s good for them and what’s good for their human masters – this problem even has its own name: value drift
Reinforcement learning is an area of machine learning concerned with how software and robots can learn to modify their behavior in order to maximize some kind of reward.
In reinforcement learning, we provide the machine with a reward signal that indicates whether or not it has performed well. The machine learns by trying different actions and receiving feedback on whether those actions were successful or not.
A simple example is teaching a robot how to play checkers: first we tell him which moves are legal in each situation; then we let him play against himself over and over until he figures out how to win every time.
The “reinforcement” part of it comes from the idea that the robot learns by trying different things and receiving feedback on whether those things were successful or not.
Re-inforcement learning is a form of machine learning that involves the robot trying different things and receiving feedback on whether those things were successful or not.
The “reinforcement” part comes from the idea that the robot learns by trying different things, and then getting positive reinforcement when it succeeds (or negative reinforcement when it fails).
It’s important to note that this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re being rewarded with cookies–it could be anything from getting more information about their surroundings to avoiding an obstacle in their path.
Theoretical problems with reinforcement learning have been around for a long time, but recent breakthroughs have allowed computers to beat humans at games like Go and poker.
Reinforcement learning is a subfield of machine learning. It’s all about teaching a machine to do stuff, but it’s not about teaching a machine to think or learn.
Theoretical problems with reinforcement learning have been around for a long time, but recent breakthroughs have allowed computers to beat humans at games like Go and poker (and even create art). Here’s how it works:
The biggest problem with reinforcement learning is that it’s very difficult for machines to know the difference between what’s good for them and what’s good for their human masters.
The biggest problem with reinforcement learning is that it’s very difficult for machines to know the difference between what’s good for them and what’s good for their human masters.
The first step in understanding this problem is recognizing that humans have intentions and goals, but machines do not. A human might want to drive a car from point A to point B because they’re going on vacation or they need groceries or they’re running late for work (etc.). A machine doesn’t care about any of those things–it just wants to get there as quickly as possible without crashing into anything along the way. So if you give your robot an instruction like “drive this car,” does it understand what “this car” means? Does it know where it needs to go? Or does it just drive until something stops moving?
The second issue arises when considering context: What happens if I tell my robot “clean up after yourself” while he’s walking through my house? He might interpret this command literally–which would mean picking up every single object on his path until he reached his destination–or he might simply ignore me entirely, knowing full well that I don’t care about messes anymore than he does!
And finally: The third challenge comes down once again to understanding human behavior; namely why would anyone ever say such ridiculous things like “clean up after yourself”? We don’t talk like this because we all intuitively understand how ridiculous such statements sound…but our robots do not share our intuition yet!
There are lots of potential applications for reinforcement learning, especially when it comes to making robots do things without hurting themselves or others (see also this article).
There are lots of potential applications for reinforcement learning, especially when it comes to making robots do things without hurting themselves or others (see also this article).
Let’s say you have a robot who wants to learn how to pick up objects. You could tell the robot what to do by programming it in advance, but that would be slow and boring! Instead, if you were using reinforcement learning then you’d just give your robot some simple task like “pick up that thing over there.” Then every time he picks up something successfully he gets a reward; if he tries unsuccessfully too many times then he gets punished by getting less reward next time around. Over time his behavior will change until eventually he can reliably pick up anything within reach no matter how long it takes him or how many times he fails along the way.*
Reinforcement Learning is one way that we can teach machines how to do stuff.
Reinforcement learning is one way that we can teach machines how to do stuff. It’s a type of machine learning, in which computers learn by trial and error rather than being explicitly programmed or given information about the world around them.
In reinforcement learning, an agent (a computer) observes its environment and takes actions based on what it sees. Each time it takes an action, the agent receives some sort of reward or punishment from its environment: if you take too long at a crosswalk and get hit by an oncoming car, then that’s probably going to hurt your score! The goal of reinforcement learning is for your agent to maximize its total rewards over time–for example by maximizing its score in Tetris or figuring out when it makes sense for me as a human being not just because my parents told me so but because I want more candy later today if possible without getting caught by my teacher who will definitely send me back home early if she catches me stealing again today…
Conclusion
Reinforcement learning is an exciting area of machine learning that has the potential to change how we interact with computers. It’s also one of the most difficult problems in computer science, so don’t expect any robots taking over anytime soon–but when they do arrive at your doorstop, they’ll probably have been taught by reinforcement learning!
