We introduce a new skill-discovery algorithm that builds a discrete graph representation of large continuous MDPs, where nodes correspond to skill subgoals and the edges to skill policies. The agent constructs this graph during an unsupervised training phase where it interleaves discovering skills and planning using them to gain coverage over ever-increasing portions of the state-space. Given a novel goal at test time, the agent plans with the acquired skill graph to reach a nearby state, then switches to learning to reach the goal. We show that the resulting algorithm, Deep Skill Graphs, outperforms both flat and existing hierarchical
reinforcement learning methods on four difficult continuous control tasks.
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null (Ed.)We introduce a new skill-discovery algorithm that builds a discrete graph representation of large continuous MDPs, where nodes correspond to skill subgoals and the edges to skill policies. The agent constructs this graph during an unsupervised training phase where it interleaves discovering skills and planning using them to gain coverage over ever-increasing portions of the state-space. Given a novel goal at test time, the agent plans with the acquired skill graph to reach a nearby state, then switches to learning to reach the goal. We show that the resulting algorithm, Deep Skill Graphs, outperforms both flat and existing hierarchical reinforcement learning methods on four difficult continuous control tasks.more » « less
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Hierarchical reinforcement learning (HRL) is only effective for long-horizon problems when high-level skills can be reliably sequentially executed. Unfortunately, learning reliably composable skills is difficult, because all the components of every skill are constantly changing during learning. We propose three methods for improving the composability of learned skills: representing skill initiation regions using a combination of pessimistic and optimistic classifiers; learning re-targetable policies that are robust to non-stationary subgoal regions; and learning robust option policies using model-based RL. We test these improvements on four sparse-reward maze navigation tasks involving a simulated quadrupedal robot. Each method successively improves the robustness of a baseline skill discovery method, substantially outperforming state-of-the-art flat and hierarchical methods.more » « less
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null (Ed.)Hierarchical reinforcement learning (HRL) is only effective for long-horizon problems when high-level skills can be reliably sequentially executed. Unfortunately, learning reliably composable skills is difficult, because all the components of every skill are constantly changing during learning. We propose three methods for improving the composability of learned skills: representing skill initiation regions using a combination of pessimistic and optimistic classifiers; learning re-targetable policies that are robust to non-stationary subgoal regions; and learning robust option policies using model-based RL. We test these improvements on four sparse-reward maze navigation tasks involving a simulated quadrupedal robot. Each method successively improves the robustness of a baseline skill discovery method, substantially outperforming state-of-the-art flat and hierarchical methods.more » « less
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