An iterative algorithm for forward-parameterized skill discovery

Adrien Matricon, David Filliat, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Abstract: We introduce COCOTTE (COnstrained Complexity Optimization Through iTerative merging of Experts), an iterative algorithm for discovering discrete, meaningful parameterized skills and learning explicit models of them from a set of behaviour examples. We show that forward-parameterized skills can be seen as smooth components of a locally smooth function and, framing the problem as the constrained minimization of a complexity measure, we propose an iterative algorithm to discover them. This algorithm fits well in the developmental robotics framework, as it does not require any external definition of a parameterized task, but discovers skills parameterized by the action from data. An application of our method to a simulated setup featuring a robotic arm interacting with an object is shown.