How to Train Your Robot - An Introduction to Reinforcement Learning

Explore an introduction to reinforcement learning in this 30-minute conference talk from ODSC East 2020. Dive into the world of training robots through a subset of machine learning, presented by Craig Buhr, PhD, Engineering Manager at MathWorks. Learn about reinforcement learning applications, control goals, and the differences between traditional and alternative approaches to robot control. Discover key terminology, workflow, and the importance of simulated environments in the reinforcement learning process. Gain insights into defining rewards, creating actor-critic networks, and designing effective agents. Understand the significance of reward function design and shaping for improved learning outcomes. Finally, explore the deployment of trained policies to target hardware platforms, bridging the gap between simulation and real-world applications.

Intro
Reinforcement Learning. A Subset of Machine Learning
Reinforcement Learning Applications
The goal of control
A walking robot - a traditional controls approach
A walking robot-an alternative approach
What is Reinforcement Learning?
Some Reinforcement Learning Terminology
Reinforcement Learning Workflow
Real vs Simulated Environments
Define Simulated Environment
Defining the Reward
Actor-Critic Training Cycle
Creating the Agent
Create Critic Network
Create Actor Network
Defining the Agent
Training our Deep Reinforcement Learning Agent
Training the Agent
Reward Function Design Matters
Reward Shaping to Improve Learning
Deploy policy to the target hardware
Policy Deployment to Hardware Platforms