Efficient Personalization of Robot Behaviors through Preference-based Action Representation Learning

Temel Kavramlar

Personalization in human-robot interaction can be achieved efficiently by learning a latent action space that maximizes the mutual information between the pre-trained robot policy and the user preference-aligned domain, without significantly compromising the original task performance.

Özet

The paper proposes a method called Preference-based Action Representation Learning (PbARL) to address the challenge of personalization in human-robot interaction (HRI). Existing preference-based reinforcement learning (PbRL) approaches often require training a personalized robot policy from scratch, resulting in inefficient use of human feedback.
PbARL aims to overcome this limitation by leveraging pre-trained robot policies that capture common task structures and basic interaction skills. The key idea is to learn a latent action space that maximizes the mutual information between the pre-trained source domain and the target user preference-aligned domain, without altering the pre-trained policy. This is achieved by training a mutual information action encoder, implemented as a conditional variational autoencoder (cVAE), with carefully designed loss functions that balance task performance preservation and personalization.
PbARL requires minimal prior knowledge from the source domain, using only transition tuples obtained by testing the pre-trained policy. This enhances the practicality of the method in real-world HRI scenarios. Extensive experiments on the Assistive Gym benchmark and a real-world user study (N=8) demonstrate that PbARL can lead to greater user satisfaction by improving personalization levels while preserving original task performance, compared to state-of-the-art approaches.

İstatistikler

The paper reports the following key metrics:

Success rate to reflect basic task performance
Average preference reward returns as a measure of personalization

Alıntılar

"PbARL formulates personalization as a mutual information maximization problem in a latent action space, without altering the pre-trained robot policy that contains essential task skills. This approach enables effective personalization without significantly compromising task performance, ultimately resulting in higher overall satisfaction."

Önemli Bilgiler Şuradan Elde Edildi

Personalization in Human-Robot Interaction through Preference-based Action Representation Learning

by Ruiqi Wang, ... : arxiv.org 09-24-2024

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2409.13822.pdf

Daha Derin Sorular

How can PbARL be extended to handle evolving and more complex human preferences in long-term HRI scenarios?

To extend Preference-based Action Representation Learning (PbARL) for evolving and more complex human preferences in long-term Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) scenarios, several strategies can be implemented:

Lifelong Learning Framework: Integrating a lifelong learning framework would allow the robot to continuously adapt to changing user preferences over time. This could involve periodically updating the preference reward model based on new user feedback, ensuring that the robot remains aligned with the user's evolving needs.

Dynamic Preference Modeling: Implementing dynamic preference modeling techniques can help capture the temporal aspects of user preferences. By utilizing recurrent neural networks (RNNs) or attention mechanisms, the robot can learn to recognize patterns in user feedback and adjust its actions accordingly.

User Profiling and Clustering: Developing user profiles that categorize individuals based on their preferences can enhance personalization. By clustering users with similar preferences, the robot can generalize learned behaviors to new users while still allowing for individual adjustments.

Multi-Modal Feedback Integration: Incorporating multi-modal feedback (e.g., verbal, non-verbal, and contextual cues) can provide a richer understanding of user preferences. This can be achieved through sensor fusion techniques that analyze various input types to refine the preference reward model.

Exploration-Exploitation Balance: Implementing strategies that balance exploration and exploitation can help the robot discover new preferences while still performing well on known tasks. Techniques such as Thompson sampling or epsilon-greedy strategies can be employed to explore new actions that may align with evolving preferences.

By adopting these strategies, PbARL can effectively adapt to the complexities of long-term HRI, ensuring that robots remain responsive to user needs as they change over time.

What are the potential limitations of the mutual information-based action representation learning approach, and how can they be addressed?

While the mutual information-based action representation learning approach in PbARL offers significant advantages, it also presents several potential limitations:

Computational Complexity: The optimization of mutual information can be computationally intensive, especially in high-dimensional action spaces. This complexity may lead to longer training times and increased resource requirements. To address this, techniques such as variational inference or approximations of mutual information can be employed to reduce computational overhead.

Overfitting to User Preferences: There is a risk that the model may overfit to specific user preferences, leading to a lack of generalization across different users or tasks. To mitigate this, regularization techniques can be applied during training, and cross-validation with diverse user data can help ensure robustness.

Limited Exploration of Action Space: The focus on maximizing mutual information may restrict the exploration of the action space, potentially overlooking novel actions that could enhance personalization. Implementing exploration strategies, such as curiosity-driven learning or random action sampling, can encourage the discovery of new actions that align with user preferences.

Dependency on Quality of Preference Data: The effectiveness of the mutual information approach heavily relies on the quality and quantity of preference data collected. In scenarios with limited feedback, the model may struggle to accurately represent user preferences. To address this, active learning techniques can be utilized to selectively query users for feedback on uncertain actions, thereby improving the quality of the preference model.

By recognizing and addressing these limitations, the mutual information-based action representation learning approach can be further refined to enhance its effectiveness in HRI applications.

Can the principles of PbARL be applied to other domains beyond HRI, such as personalized recommendation systems or adaptive user interfaces?

Yes, the principles of PbARL can be effectively applied to other domains beyond Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), including personalized recommendation systems and adaptive user interfaces. Here’s how:

Personalized Recommendation Systems: In recommendation systems, the goal is to tailor suggestions based on user preferences. PbARL's approach of learning a latent action space that maximizes mutual information can be adapted to model user-item interactions. By treating user preferences as a form of action representation, the system can learn to recommend items that align closely with user interests while maintaining the overall quality of recommendations.

Adaptive User Interfaces: For adaptive user interfaces, PbARL can be utilized to personalize the layout and functionality based on user interactions. By learning from user behavior and preferences, the system can adjust its interface elements to enhance usability and satisfaction. The mutual information framework can help ensure that changes to the interface do not compromise essential functionalities while still catering to individual user needs.

Dynamic Content Delivery: In content delivery systems, such as news aggregators or streaming services, PbARL can be employed to adaptively curate content based on user engagement and feedback. By continuously learning from user interactions, the system can optimize content delivery to align with evolving preferences, ensuring that users receive relevant and engaging material.

Game Design and Development: In gaming, PbARL can be applied to create personalized gaming experiences by adapting game mechanics and difficulty levels based on player preferences and performance. This can enhance player engagement and satisfaction by providing tailored challenges that align with individual play styles.

By leveraging the core principles of PbARL, various domains can benefit from enhanced personalization, improved user satisfaction, and more efficient utilization of user feedback, making it a versatile approach for a wide range of applications.