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42 results (View BibTeX file of all listed publications)

2006

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Learning operational space control

Peters, J., Schaal, S.

In Robotics: Science and Systems II (RSS 2006), pages: 255-262, (Editors: Gaurav S. Sukhatme and Stefan Schaal and Wolfram Burgard and Dieter Fox), Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, RSS , 2006, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
While operational space control is of essential importance for robotics and well-understood from an analytical point of view, it can be prohibitively hard to achieve accurate control in face of modeling errors, which are inevitable in complex robots, e.g., humanoid robots. In such cases, learning control methods can offer an interesting alternative to analytical control algorithms. However, the resulting learning problem is ill-defined as it requires to learn an inverse mapping of a usually redundant system, which is well known to suffer from the property of non-covexity of the solution space, i.e., the learning system could generate motor commands that try to steer the robot into physically impossible configurations. A first important insight for this paper is that, nevertheless, a physically correct solution to the inverse problem does exits when learning of the inverse map is performed in a suitable piecewise linear way. The second crucial component for our work is based on a recent insight that many operational space controllers can be understood in terms of a constraint optimal control problem. The cost function associated with this optimal control problem allows us to formulate a learning algorithm that automatically synthesizes a globally consistent desired resolution of redundancy while learning the operational space controller. From the view of machine learning, the learning problem corresponds to a reinforcement learning problem that maximizes an immediate reward and that employs an expectation-maximization policy search algorithm. Evaluations on a three degrees of freedom robot arm illustrate the feasability of our suggested approach.

am ei

link (url) [BibTex]

2006

am ei Peters, J., Schaal, S. Learning operational space control In Robotics: Science and Systems II (RSS 2006), pages: 255-262, (Editors: Gaurav S. Sukhatme and Stefan Schaal and Wolfram Burgard and Dieter Fox), Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, RSS , 2006, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Reinforcement Learning for Parameterized Motor Primitives

Peters, J., Schaal, S.

In Proceedings of the 2006 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, pages: 73-80, IJCNN, 2006, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
One of the major challenges in both action generation for robotics and in the understanding of human motor control is to learn the "building blocks of movement generation", called motor primitives. Motor primitives, as used in this paper, are parameterized control policies such as splines or nonlinear differential equations with desired attractor properties. While a lot of progress has been made in teaching parameterized motor primitives using supervised or imitation learning, the self-improvement by interaction of the system with the environment remains a challenging problem. In this paper, we evaluate different reinforcement learning approaches for improving the performance of parameterized motor primitives. For pursuing this goal, we highlight the difficulties with current reinforcement learning methods, and outline both established and novel algorithms for the gradient-based improvement of parameterized policies. We compare these algorithms in the context of motor primitive learning, and show that our most modern algorithm, the Episodic Natural Actor-Critic outperforms previous algorithms by at least an order of magnitude. We demonstrate the efficiency of this reinforcement learning method in the application of learning to hit a baseball with an anthropomorphic robot arm.

am ei

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

am ei Peters, J., Schaal, S. Reinforcement Learning for Parameterized Motor Primitives In Proceedings of the 2006 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, pages: 73-80, IJCNN, 2006, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) DOI [BibTex]

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Statistical Learning of LQG controllers

Theodorou, E.

Technical Report-2006-1, Computational Action and Vision Lab University of Minnesota, 2006, clmc (techreport)

am

PDF [BibTex]

am Theodorou, E. Statistical Learning of LQG controllers Technical Report-2006-1, Computational Action and Vision Lab University of Minnesota, 2006, clmc (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

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Approximate nearest neighbor regression in very high dimensions

Vijayakumar, S., DSouza, A., Schaal, S.

In Nearest-Neighbor Methods in Learning and Vision, pages: 103-142, (Editors: Shakhnarovich, G.;Darrell, T.;Indyk, P.), Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006, clmc (inbook)

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Vijayakumar, S., DSouza, A., Schaal, S. Approximate nearest neighbor regression in very high dimensions In Nearest-Neighbor Methods in Learning and Vision, pages: 103-142, (Editors: Shakhnarovich, G.;Darrell, T.;Indyk, P.), Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006, clmc (inbook)

link (url) [BibTex]

2003

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Dynamic movement primitives - A framework for motor control in humans and humanoid robots

Schaal, S.

In The International Symposium on Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines, Kyoto, Japan, March 4-8, 2003, March 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Sensory-motor integration is one of the key issues in robotics. In this paper, we propose an approach to rhythmic arm movement control that is synchronized with an external signal based on exploiting a simple neural oscillator network. Trajectory generation by the neural oscillator is a biologically inspired method that can allow us to generate a smooth and continuous trajectory. The parameter tuning of the oscillators is used to generate a synchronized movement with wide intervals. We adopted the method for the drumming task as an example task. By using this method, the robot can realize synchronized drumming with wide drumming intervals in real time. The paper also shows the experimental results of drumming by a humanoid robot.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

2003

am Schaal, S. Dynamic movement primitives - A framework for motor control in humans and humanoid robots In The International Symposium on Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines, Kyoto, Japan, March 4-8, 2003, March 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Bayesian backfitting

D’Souza, A., Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S.

In Proceedings of the 10th Joint Symposium on Neural Computation (JSNC 2003), Irvine, CA, May 2003, 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
We present an algorithm aimed at addressing both computational and analytical intractability of Bayesian regression models which operate in very high-dimensional, usually underconstrained spaces. Several domains of research frequently provide such datasets, including chemometrics [2], and human movement analysis [1]. The literature in nonparametric statistics provides interesting solutions such as Backfitting [3] and Partial Least Squares [4], which are extremely robust and efficient, yet lack a probabilistic interpretation that could place them in the context of current research in statistical learning algorithms that emphasize the estimation of confidence, posterior distributions, and model complexity. In order to achieve numerical robustness and low computational cost, we first derive a novel Bayesian interpretation of Backfitting (BB) as a computationally efficient regression algorithm. BBÕs learning complexity scales linearly with the input dimensionality by decoupling inference among individual input dimensions. We embed BB in an efficient, locally variational model selection mechanism that automatically grows the number of backfitting experts in a mixture-of-experts regression model. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm in performing principled regularization of model complexity when fitting nonlinear manifolds while avoiding the numerical hazards associated with highly underconstrained problems. We also note that this algorithm appears applicable in various areas of neural computation, e.g., in abstract models of computational neuroscience, or implementations of statistical learning on artificial systems.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am D’Souza, A., Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S. Bayesian backfitting In Proceedings of the 10th Joint Symposium on Neural Computation (JSNC 2003), Irvine, CA, May 2003, 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Reinforcement learning for humanoid robotics

Peters, J., Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S.

In IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids2003), Karlsruhe, Germany, Sept.29-30, 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Reinforcement learning offers one of the most general framework to take traditional robotics towards true autonomy and versatility. However, applying reinforcement learning to high dimensional movement systems like humanoid robots remains an unsolved problem. In this paper, we discuss different approaches of reinforcement learning in terms of their applicability in humanoid robotics. Methods can be coarsely classified into three different categories, i.e., greedy methods, `vanilla' policy gradient methods, and natural gradient methods. We discuss that greedy methods are not likely to scale into the domain humanoid robotics as they are problematic when used with function approximation. `Vanilla' policy gradient methods on the other hand have been successfully applied on real-world robots including at least one humanoid robot. We demonstrate that these methods can be significantly improved using the natural policy gradient instead of the regular policy gradient. A derivation of the natural policy gradient is provided, proving that the average policy gradient of Kakade (2002) is indeed the true natural gradient. A general algorithm for estimating the natural gradient, the Natural Actor-Critic algorithm, is introduced. This algorithm converges to the nearest local minimum of the cost function with respect to the Fisher information metric under suitable conditions. The algorithm outperforms non-natural policy gradients by far in a cart-pole balancing evaluation, and for learning nonlinear dynamic motor primitives for humanoid robot control. It offers a promising route for the development of reinforcement learning for truly high dimensionally continuous state-action systems.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Peters, J., Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S. Reinforcement learning for humanoid robotics In IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids2003), Karlsruhe, Germany, Sept.29-30, 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Discovering imitation strategies through categorization of multi-cimensional data

Billard, A., Epars, Y., Schaal, S., Cheng, G.

In IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2003), Las Vegas, NV, Oct. 27-31, 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
An essential problem of imitation is that of determining Ówhat to imitateÓ, i.e. to determine which of the many features of the demonstration are relevant to the task and which should be reproduced. The strategy followed by the imitator can be modeled as a hierarchical optimization system, which minimizes the discrepancy between two multidimensional datasets. We consider imitation of a manipulation task. To classify across manipulation strategies, we apply a probabilistic analysis to data in Cartesian and joint spaces. We determine a general metric that optimizes the policy of task reproduction, following strategy determination. The model successfully discovers strategies in six different manipulation tasks and controls task reproduction by a full body humanoid robot. or the complete path followed by the demonstrator. We follow a similar taxonomy and apply it to the learning and reproduction of a manipulation task by a humanoid robot. We take the perspective that the features of the movements to imitate are those that appear most frequently, i.e. the invariants in time. The model builds upon previous work [3], [4] and is composed of a hierarchical time delay neural network that extracts invariant features from a manipulation task performed by a human demonstrator. The system analyzes the Carthesian trajectories of the objects and the joint

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Billard, A., Epars, Y., Schaal, S., Cheng, G. Discovering imitation strategies through categorization of multi-cimensional data In IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2003), Las Vegas, NV, Oct. 27-31, 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Scaling reinforcement learning paradigms for motor learning

Peters, J., Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S.

In Proceedings of the 10th Joint Symposium on Neural Computation (JSNC 2003), Irvine, CA, May 2003, 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Reinforcement learning offers a general framework to explain reward related learning in artificial and biological motor control. However, current reinforcement learning methods rarely scale to high dimensional movement systems and mainly operate in discrete, low dimensional domains like game-playing, artificial toy problems, etc. This drawback makes them unsuitable for application to human or bio-mimetic motor control. In this poster, we look at promising approaches that can potentially scale and suggest a novel formulation of the actor-critic algorithm which takes steps towards alleviating the current shortcomings. We argue that methods based on greedy policies are not likely to scale into high-dimensional domains as they are problematic when used with function approximation Ð a must when dealing with continuous domains. We adopt the path of direct policy gradient based policy improvements since they avoid the problems of unstabilizing dynamics encountered in traditional value iteration based updates. While regular policy gradient methods have demonstrated promising results in the domain of humanoid notor control, we demonstrate that these methods can be significantly improved using the natural policy gradient instead of the regular policy gradient. Based on this, it is proved that KakadeÕs Ôaverage natural policy gradientÕ is indeed the true natural gradient. A general algorithm for estimating the natural gradient, the Natural Actor-Critic algorithm, is introduced. This algorithm converges with probability one to the nearest local minimum in Riemannian space of the cost function. The algorithm outperforms nonnatural policy gradients by far in a cart-pole balancing evaluation, and offers a promising route for the development of reinforcement learning for truly high-dimensionally continuous state-action systems.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Peters, J., Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S. Scaling reinforcement learning paradigms for motor learning In Proceedings of the 10th Joint Symposium on Neural Computation (JSNC 2003), Irvine, CA, May 2003, 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Learning attractor landscapes for learning motor primitives

Ijspeert, A., Nakanishi, J., Schaal, S.

In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 15, pages: 1547-1554, (Editors: Becker, S.;Thrun, S.;Obermayer, K.), Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
If globally high dimensional data has locally only low dimensional distributions, it is advantageous to perform a local dimensionality reduction before further processing the data. In this paper we examine several techniques for local dimensionality reduction in the context of locally weighted linear regression. As possible candidates, we derive local versions of factor analysis regression, principle component regression, principle component regression on joint distributions, and partial least squares regression. After outlining the statistical bases of these methods, we perform Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate their robustness with respect to violations of their statistical assumptions. One surprising outcome is that locally weighted partial least squares regression offers the best average results, thus outperforming even factor analysis, the theoretically most appealing of our candidate techniques.Ê

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Ijspeert, A., Nakanishi, J., Schaal, S. Learning attractor landscapes for learning motor primitives In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 15, pages: 1547-1554, (Editors: Becker, S.;Thrun, S.;Obermayer, K.), Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Learning from demonstration and adaptation of biped locomotion with dynamical movement primitives

Nakanishi, J., Morimoto, J., Endo, G., Schaal, S., Kawato, M.

In Workshop on Robot Learning by Demonstration, IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2003), Las Vegas, NV, Oct. 27-31, 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
In this paper, we report on our research for learning biped locomotion from human demonstration. Our ultimate goal is to establish a design principle of a controller in order to achieve natural human-like locomotion. We suggest dynamical movement primitives as a CPG of a biped robot, an approach we have previously proposed for learning and encoding complex human movements. Demonstrated trajectories are learned through the movement primitives by locally weighted regression, and the frequency of the learned trajectories is adjusted automatically by a novel frequency adaptation algorithm based on phase resetting and entrainment of oscillators. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed locomotion controller.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Nakanishi, J., Morimoto, J., Endo, G., Schaal, S., Kawato, M. Learning from demonstration and adaptation of biped locomotion with dynamical movement primitives In Workshop on Robot Learning by Demonstration, IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2003), Las Vegas, NV, Oct. 27-31, 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Movement planning and imitation by shaping nonlinear attractors

Schaal, S.

In Proceedings of the 12th Yale Workshop on Adaptive and Learning Systems, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Given the continuous stream of movements that biological systems exhibit in their daily activities, an account for such versatility and creativity has to assume that movement sequences consist of segments, executed either in sequence or with partial or complete overlap. Therefore, a fundamental question that has pervaded research in motor control both in artificial and biological systems revolves around identifying movement primitives (a.k.a. units of actions, basis behaviors, motor schemas, etc.). What are the fundamental building blocks that are strung together, adapted to, and created for ever new behaviors? This paper summarizes results that led to the hypothesis of Dynamic Movement Primitives (DMP). DMPs are units of action that are formalized as stable nonlinear attractor systems. They are useful for autonomous robotics as they are highly flexible in creating complex rhythmic (e.g., locomotion) and discrete (e.g., a tennis swing) behaviors that can quickly be adapted to the inevitable perturbations of a dy-namically changing, stochastic environment. Moreover, DMPs provide a formal framework that also lends itself to investigations in computational neuroscience. A recent finding that allows creating DMPs with the help of well-understood statistical learning methods has elevated DMPs from a more heuristic to a principled modeling approach, and, moreover, created a new foundation for imitation learning. Theoretical insights, evaluations on a humanoid robot, and behavioral and brain imaging data will serve to outline the framework of DMPs for a general approach to motor control and imitation in robotics and biology.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Schaal, S. Movement planning and imitation by shaping nonlinear attractors In Proceedings of the 12th Yale Workshop on Adaptive and Learning Systems, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 2003, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Computational approaches to motor learning by imitation

Schaal, S., Ijspeert, A., Billard, A.

Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society of London: Series B, Biological Sciences, 358(1431):537-547, 2003, clmc (article)

Abstract
Movement imitation requires a complex set of mechanisms that map an observed movement of a teacher onto one's own movement apparatus. Relevant problems include movement recognition, pose estimation, pose tracking, body correspondence, coordinate transformation from external to egocentric space, matching of observed against previously learned movement, resolution of redundant degrees-of-freedom that are unconstrained by the observation, suitable movement representations for imitation, modularization of motor control, etc. All of these topics by themselves are active research problems in computational and neurobiological sciences, such that their combination into a complete imitation system remains a daunting undertaking - indeed, one could argue that we need to understand the complete perception-action loop. As a strategy to untangle the complexity of imitation, this paper will examine imitation purely from a computational point of view, i.e. we will review statistical and mathematical approaches that have been suggested for tackling parts of the imitation problem, and discuss their merits, disadvantages and underlying principles. Given the focus on action recognition of other contributions in this special issue, this paper will primarily emphasize the motor side of imitation, assuming that a perceptual system has already identified important features of a demonstrated movement and created their corresponding spatial information. Based on the formalization of motor control in terms of control policies and their associated performance criteria, useful taxonomies of imitation learning can be generated that clarify different approaches and future research directions.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Schaal, S., Ijspeert, A., Billard, A. Computational approaches to motor learning by imitation Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society of London: Series B, Biological Sciences, 358(1431):537-547, 2003, clmc (article)

link (url) [BibTex]

2002

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Forward models in visuomotor control

Mehta, B., Schaal, S.

J Neurophysiol, 88(2):942-53, August 2002, clmc (article)

Abstract
In recent years, an increasing number of research projects investigated whether the central nervous system employs internal models in motor control. While inverse models in the control loop can be identified more readily in both motor behavior and the firing of single neurons, providing direct evidence for the existence of forward models is more complicated. In this paper, we will discuss such an identification of forward models in the context of the visuomotor control of an unstable dynamic system, the balancing of a pole on a finger. Pole balancing imposes stringent constraints on the biological controller, as it needs to cope with the large delays of visual information processing while keeping the pole at an unstable equilibrium. We hypothesize various model-based and non-model-based control schemes of how visuomotor control can be accomplished in this task, including Smith Predictors, predictors with Kalman filters, tapped-delay line control, and delay-uncompensated control. Behavioral experiments with human participants allow exclusion of most of the hypothesized control schemes. In the end, our data support the existence of a forward model in the sensory preprocessing loop of control. As an important part of our research, we will provide a discussion of when and how forward models can be identified and also the possible pitfalls in the search for forward models in control.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

2002

am Mehta, B., Schaal, S. Forward models in visuomotor control J Neurophysiol, 88(2):942-53, August 2002, clmc (article)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Learning rhythmic movements by demonstration using nonlinear oscillators

Ijspeert, J. A., Nakanishi, J., Schaal, S.

In IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2002), pages: 958-963, Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, Lausanne, Sept.30-Oct.4 2002, 2002, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Locally weighted learning (LWL) is a class of statistical learning techniques that provides useful representations and training algorithms for learning about complex phenomena during autonomous adaptive control of robotic systems. This paper introduces several LWL algorithms that have been tested successfully in real-time learning of complex robot tasks. We discuss two major classes of LWL, memory-based LWL and purely incremental LWL that does not need to remember any data explicitly. In contrast to the traditional beliefs that LWL methods cannot work well in high-dimensional spaces, we provide new algorithms that have been tested in up to 50 dimensional learning problems. The applicability of our LWL algorithms is demonstrated in various robot learning examples, including the learning of devil-sticking, pole-balancing of a humanoid robot arm, and inverse-dynamics learning for a seven degree-of-freedom robot.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Ijspeert, J. A., Nakanishi, J., Schaal, S. Learning rhythmic movements by demonstration using nonlinear oscillators In IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2002), pages: 958-963, Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, Lausanne, Sept.30-Oct.4 2002, 2002, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Learning robot control

Schaal, S.

In The handbook of brain theory and neural networks, 2nd Edition, pages: 983-987, 2, (Editors: Arbib, M. A.), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2002, clmc (inbook)

Abstract
This is a review article on learning control in robots.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Schaal, S. Learning robot control In The handbook of brain theory and neural networks, 2nd Edition, pages: 983-987, 2, (Editors: Arbib, M. A.), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2002, clmc (inbook)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Arm and hand movement control

Schaal, S.

In The handbook of brain theory and neural networks, 2nd Edition, pages: 110-113, 2, (Editors: Arbib, M. A.), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2002, clmc (inbook)

Abstract
This is a review article on computational and biological research on arm and hand control.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Schaal, S. Arm and hand movement control In The handbook of brain theory and neural networks, 2nd Edition, pages: 110-113, 2, (Editors: Arbib, M. A.), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2002, clmc (inbook)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Scalable techniques from nonparameteric statistics for real-time robot learning

Schaal, S., Atkeson, C. G., Vijayakumar, S.

Applied Intelligence, 17(1):49-60, 2002, clmc (article)

Abstract
Locally weighted learning (LWL) is a class of techniques from nonparametric statistics that provides useful representations and training algorithms for learning about complex phenomena during autonomous adaptive control of robotic systems. This paper introduces several LWL algorithms that have been tested successfully in real-time learning of complex robot tasks. We discuss two major classes of LWL, memory-based LWL and purely incremental LWL that does not need to remember any data explicitly. In contrast to the traditional belief that LWL methods cannot work well in high-dimensional spaces, we provide new algorithms that have been tested on up to 90 dimensional learning problems. The applicability of our LWL algorithms is demonstrated in various robot learning examples, including the learning of devil-sticking, pole-balancing by a humanoid robot arm, and inverse-dynamics learning for a seven and a 30 degree-of-freedom robot. In all these examples, the application of our statistical neural networks techniques allowed either faster or more accurate acquisition of motor control than classical control engineering.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Schaal, S., Atkeson, C. G., Vijayakumar, S. Scalable techniques from nonparameteric statistics for real-time robot learning Applied Intelligence, 17(1):49-60, 2002, clmc (article)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Movement imitation with nonlinear dynamical systems in humanoid robots

Ijspeert, J. A., Nakanishi, J., Schaal, S.

In International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2002), Washinton, May 11-15 2002, 2002, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Locally weighted learning (LWL) is a class of statistical learning techniques that provides useful representations and training algorithms for learning about complex phenomena during autonomous adaptive control of robotic systems. This paper introduces several LWL algorithms that have been tested successfully in real-time learning of complex robot tasks. We discuss two major classes of LWL, memory-based LWL and purely incremental LWL that does not need to remember any data explicitly. In contrast to the traditional beliefs that LWL methods cannot work well in high-dimensional spaces, we provide new algorithms that have been tested in up to 50 dimensional learning problems. The applicability of our LWL algorithms is demonstrated in various robot learning examples, including the learning of devil-sticking, pole-balancing of a humanoid robot arm, and inverse-dynamics learning for a seven degree-of-freedom robot.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Ijspeert, J. A., Nakanishi, J., Schaal, S. Movement imitation with nonlinear dynamical systems in humanoid robots In International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2002), Washinton, May 11-15 2002, 2002, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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A locally weighted learning composite adaptive controller with structure adaptation

Nakanishi, J., Farrell, J. A., Schaal, S.

In IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2002), Lausanne, Sept.30-Oct.4 2002, 2002, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
This paper introduces a provably stable adaptive learning controller which employs nonlinear function approximation with automatic growth of the learning network according to the nonlinearities and the working domain of the control system. The unknown function in the dynamical system is approximated by piecewise linear models using a nonparametric regression technique. Local models are allocated as necessary and their parameters are optimized on-line. Inspired by composite adaptive control methods, the pro-posed learning adaptive control algorithm uses both the tracking error and the estimation error to up-date the parameters. We provide Lyapunov analyses that demonstrate the stability properties of the learning controller. Numerical simulations illustrate rapid convergence of the tracking error and the automatic structure adaptation capability of the function approximator. This paper introduces a provably stable adaptive learning controller which employs nonlinear function approximation with automatic growth of the learning network according to the nonlinearities and the working domain of the control system. The unknown function in the dynamical system is approximated by piecewise linear models using a nonparametric regression technique. Local models are allocated as necessary and their parameters are optimized on-line. Inspired by composite adaptive control methods, the pro-posed learning adaptive control algorithm uses both the tracking error and the estimation error to up-date the parameters. We provide Lyapunov analyses that demonstrate the stability properties of the learning controller. Numerical simulations illustrate rapid convergence of the tracking error and the automatic structure adaptation capability of the function approximator

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Nakanishi, J., Farrell, J. A., Schaal, S. A locally weighted learning composite adaptive controller with structure adaptation In IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2002), Lausanne, Sept.30-Oct.4 2002, 2002, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

2000

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Reciprocal excitation between biological and robotic research

Schaal, S., Sternad, D., Dean, W., Kotoska, S., Osu, R., Kawato, M.

In Sensor Fusion and Decentralized Control in Robotic Systems III, Proceedings of SPIE, 4196, pages: 30-40, Boston, MA, Nov.5-8, 2000, November 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
While biological principles have inspired researchers in computational and engineering research for a long time, there is still rather limited knowledge flow back from computational to biological domains. This paper presents examples of our work where research on anthropomorphic robots lead us to new insights into explaining biological movement phenomena, starting from behavioral studies up to brain imaging studies. Our research over the past years has focused on principles of trajectory formation with nonlinear dynamical systems, on learning internal models for nonlinear control, and on advanced topics like imitation learning. The formal and empirical analyses of the kinematics and dynamics of movements systems and the tasks that they need to perform lead us to suggest principles of motor control that later on we found surprisingly related to human behavior and even brain activity.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

2000

am Schaal, S., Sternad, D., Dean, W., Kotoska, S., Osu, R., Kawato, M. Reciprocal excitation between biological and robotic research In Sensor Fusion and Decentralized Control in Robotic Systems III, Proceedings of SPIE, 4196, pages: 30-40, Boston, MA, Nov.5-8, 2000, November 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Nonlinear dynamical systems as movement primitives

Schaal, S., Kotosaka, S., Sternad, D.

In Humanoids2000, First IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, CD-Proceedings, Cambridge, MA, September 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
This paper explores the idea to create complex human-like movements from movement primitives based on nonlinear attractor dynamics. Each degree-of-freedom of a limb is assumed to have two independent abilities to create movement, one through a discrete dynamic system, and one through a rhythmic system. The discrete system creates point-to-point movements based on internal or external target specifications. The rhythmic system can add an additional oscillatory movement relative to the current position of the discrete system. In the present study, we develop appropriate dynamic systems that can realize the above model, motivate the particular choice of the systems from a biological and engineering point of view, and present simulation results of the performance of such movement primitives. The model was implemented for a drumming task on a humanoid robot

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Schaal, S., Kotosaka, S., Sternad, D. Nonlinear dynamical systems as movement primitives In Humanoids2000, First IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, CD-Proceedings, Cambridge, MA, September 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Real Time Learning in Humanoids: A challenge for scalability of Online Algorithms

Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S.

In Humanoids2000, First IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, CD-Proceedings, Cambridge, MA, September 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
While recent research in neural networks and statistical learning has focused mostly on learning from finite data sets without stringent constraints on computational efficiency, there is an increasing number of learning problems that require real-time performance from an essentially infinite stream of incrementally arriving data. This paper demonstrates how even high-dimensional learning problems of this kind can successfully be dealt with by techniques from nonparametric regression and locally weighted learning. As an example, we describe the application of one of the most advanced of such algorithms, Locally Weighted Projection Regression (LWPR), to the on-line learning of the inverse dynamics model of an actual seven degree-of-freedom anthropomorphic robot arm. LWPR's linear computational complexity in the number of input dimensions, its inherent mechanisms of local dimensionality reduction, and its sound learning rule based on incremental stochastic leave-one-out cross validation allows -- to our knowledge for the first time -- implementing inverse dynamics learning for such a complex robot with real-time performance. In our sample task, the robot acquires the local inverse dynamics model needed to trace a figure-8 in only 60 seconds of training.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S. Real Time Learning in Humanoids: A challenge for scalability of Online Algorithms In Humanoids2000, First IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, CD-Proceedings, Cambridge, MA, September 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Synchronized robot drumming by neural oscillator

Kotosaka, S., Schaal, S.

In The International Symposium on Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines, Montreal, Canada, August 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Sensory-motor integration is one of the key issues in robotics. In this paper, we propose an approach to rhythmic arm movement control that is synchronized with an external signal based on exploiting a simple neural oscillator network. Trajectory generation by the neural oscillator is a biologically inspired method that can allow us to generate a smooth and continuous trajectory. The parameter tuning of the oscillators is used to generate a synchronized movement with wide intervals. We adopted the method for the drumming task as an example task. By using this method, the robot can realize synchronized drumming with wide drumming intervals in real time. The paper also shows the experimental results of drumming by a humanoid robot.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Kotosaka, S., Schaal, S. Synchronized robot drumming by neural oscillator In The International Symposium on Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines, Montreal, Canada, August 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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A brachiating robot controller

Nakanishi, J., Fukuda, T., Koditschek, D. E.

IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 16(2):109-123, 2000, clmc (article)

Abstract
We report on our empirical studies of a new controller for a two-link brachiating robot. Motivated by the pendulum-like motion of an apeâ??s brachiation, we encode this task as the output of a â??target dynamical system.â? Numerical simulations indicate that the resulting controller solves a number of brachiation problems that we term the â??ladder,â? â??swing-up,â? and â??ropeâ? problems. Preliminary analysis provides some explanation for this success. The proposed controller is implemented on a physical system in our laboratory. The robot achieves behaviors including â??swing locomotionâ? and â??swing upâ? and is capable of continuous locomotion over several rungs of a ladder. We discuss a number of formal questions whose answers will be required to gain a full understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of this approach.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Nakanishi, J., Fukuda, T., Koditschek, D. E. A brachiating robot controller IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 16(2):109-123, 2000, clmc (article)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Real-time robot learning with locally weighted statistical learning

Schaal, S., Atkeson, C. G., Vijayakumar, S.

In International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2000), San Francisco, April 2000, 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Locally weighted learning (LWL) is a class of statistical learning techniques that provides useful representations and training algorithms for learning about complex phenomena during autonomous adaptive control of robotic systems. This paper introduces several LWL algorithms that have been tested successfully in real-time learning of complex robot tasks. We discuss two major classes of LWL, memory-based LWL and purely incremental LWL that does not need to remember any data explicitly. In contrast to the traditional beliefs that LWL methods cannot work well in high-dimensional spaces, we provide new algorithms that have been tested in up to 50 dimensional learning problems. The applicability of our LWL algorithms is demonstrated in various robot learning examples, including the learning of devil-sticking, pole-balancing of a humanoid robot arm, and inverse-dynamics learning for a seven degree-of-freedom robot.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Schaal, S., Atkeson, C. G., Vijayakumar, S. Real-time robot learning with locally weighted statistical learning In International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2000), San Francisco, April 2000, 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Biomimetic gaze stabilization

Shibata, T., Schaal, S.

In Robot learning: an Interdisciplinary approach, pages: 31-52, (Editors: Demiris, J.;Birk, A.), World Scientific, 2000, clmc (inbook)

Abstract
Accurate oculomotor control is one of the essential pre-requisites for successful visuomotor coordination. In this paper, we suggest a biologically inspired control system for learning gaze stabilization with a biomimetic robotic oculomotor system. In a stepwise fashion, we develop a control circuit for the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) and the opto-kinetic response (OKR), and add a nonlinear learning network to allow adaptivity. We discuss the parallels and differences of our system with biological oculomotor control and suggest solutions how to deal with nonlinearities and time delays in the control system. In simulation and actual robot studies, we demonstrate that our system can learn gaze stabilization in real time in only a few seconds with high final accuracy.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Shibata, T., Schaal, S. Biomimetic gaze stabilization In Robot learning: an Interdisciplinary approach, pages: 31-52, (Editors: Demiris, J.;Birk, A.), World Scientific, 2000, clmc (inbook)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Fast learning of biomimetic oculomotor control with nonparametric regression networks

Shibata, T., Schaal, S.

In International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2000), pages: 3847-3854, San Francisco, April 2000, 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Accurate oculomotor control is one of the essential pre-requisites of successful visuomotor coordination. Given the variable nonlinearities of the geometry of binocular vision as well as the possible nonlinearities of the oculomotor plant, it is desirable to accomplish accurate oculomotor control through learning approaches. In this paper, we investigate learning control for a biomimetic active vision system mounted on a humanoid robot. By combining a biologically inspired cerebellar learning scheme with a state-of-the-art statistical learning network, our robot system is able to acquire high performance visual stabilization reflexes after about 40 seconds of learning despite significant nonlinearities and processing delays in the system.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Shibata, T., Schaal, S. Fast learning of biomimetic oculomotor control with nonparametric regression networks In International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2000), pages: 3847-3854, San Francisco, April 2000, 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Interaction of rhythmic and discrete pattern generators in single joint movements

Sternad, D., Dean, W. J., Schaal, S.

Human Movement Science, 19(4):627-665, 2000, clmc (article)

Abstract
The study investigates a single-joint movement task that combines a translatory and cyclic component with the objective to investigate the interaction of discrete and rhythmic movement elements. Participants performed an elbow movement in the horizontal plane, oscillating at a prescribed frequency around one target and shifting to a second target upon a trigger signal, without stopping the oscillation. Analyses focused on extracting the mutual influences of the rhythmic and the discrete component of the task. Major findings are: (1) The onset of the discrete movement was confined to a limited phase window in the rhythmic cycle. (2) Its duration was influenced by the period of oscillation. (3) The rhythmic oscillation was "perturbed" by the discrete movement as indicated by phase resetting. On the basis of these results we propose a model for the coordination of discrete and rhythmic actions (K. Matsuoka, Sustained oscillations generated by mutually inhibiting neurons with adaptations, Biological Cybernetics 52 (1985) 367-376; Mechanisms of frequency and pattern control in the neural rhythm generators, Biological Cybernetics 56 (1987) 345-353). For rhythmic movements an oscillatory pattern generator is developed following models of half-center oscillations (D. Bullock, S. Grossberg, The VITE model: a neural command circuit for generating arm and articulated trajectories, in: J.A.S. Kelso, A.J. Mandel, M. F. Shlesinger (Eds.), Dynamic Patterns in Complex Systems. World Scientific. Singapore. 1988. pp. 305-326). For discrete movements a point attractor dynamics is developed close to the VITE model For each joint degree of freedom both pattern generators co-exist but exert mutual inhibition onto each other. The suggested modeling framework provides a unified account for both discrete and rhythmic movements on the basis of neuronal circuitry. Simulation results demonstrated that the effects observed in human performance can be replicated using the two pattern generators with a mutually inhibiting coupling.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Sternad, D., Dean, W. J., Schaal, S. Interaction of rhythmic and discrete pattern generators in single joint movements Human Movement Science, 19(4):627-665, 2000, clmc (article)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Locally weighted projection regression: An O(n) algorithm for incremental real time learning in high dimensional spaces

Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S.

In Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2000), 1, pages: 288-293, Stanford, CA, 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Locally weighted projection regression is a new algorithm that achieves nonlinear function approximation in high dimensional spaces with redundant and irrelevant input dimensions. At its core, it uses locally linear models, spanned by a small number of univariate regressions in selected directions in input space. This paper evaluates different methods of projection regression and derives a nonlinear function approximator based on them. This nonparametric local learning system i) learns rapidly with second order learning methods based on incremental training, ii) uses statistically sound stochastic cross validation to learn iii) adjusts its weighting kernels based on local information only, iv) has a computational complexity that is linear in the number of inputs, and v) can deal with a large number of - possibly redundant - inputs, as shown in evaluations with up to 50 dimensional data sets. To our knowledge, this is the first truly incremental spatially localized learning method to combine all these properties.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S. Locally weighted projection regression: An O(n) algorithm for incremental real time learning in high dimensional spaces In Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2000), 1, pages: 288-293, Stanford, CA, 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Dynamics of a bouncing ball in human performance

Sternad, D., Duarte, M., Katsumata, H., Schaal, S.

Physical Review E, 63(011902):1-8, 2000, clmc (article)

Abstract
On the basis of a modified bouncing-ball model, we investigated whether human movements utilize principles of dynamic stability in their performance of a similar movement task. Stability analyses of the model provided predictions about conditions indicative of a dynamically stable period-one regime. In a series of experiments, human subjects bounced a ball rhythmically on a racket and displayed these conditions supporting that they attuned to and exploited the dynamic stability properties of the task.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Sternad, D., Duarte, M., Katsumata, H., Schaal, S. Dynamics of a bouncing ball in human performance Physical Review E, 63(011902):1-8, 2000, clmc (article)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Inverse kinematics for humanoid robots

Tevatia, G., Schaal, S.

In International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2000), pages: 294-299, San Fransisco, April 24-28, 2000, 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Real-time control of the endeffector of a humanoid robot in external coordinates requires computationally efficient solutions of the inverse kinematics problem. In this context, this paper investigates methods of resolved motion rate control (RMRC) that employ optimization criteria to resolve kinematic redundancies. In particular we focus on two established techniques, the pseudo inverse with explicit optimization and the extended Jacobian method. We prove that the extended Jacobian method includes pseudo-inverse methods as a special solution. In terms of computational complexity, however, pseudo-inverse and extended Jacobian differ significantly in favor of pseudo-inverse methods. Employing numerical estimation techniques, we introduce a computationally efficient version of the extended Jacobian with performance comparable to the original version . Our results are illustrated in simulation studies with a multiple degree-of-freedom robot, and were tested on a 30 degree-of-freedom robot. 

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Tevatia, G., Schaal, S. Inverse kinematics for humanoid robots In International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2000), pages: 294-299, San Fransisco, April 24-28, 2000, 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Fast and efficient incremental learning for high-dimensional movement systems

Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S.

In International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2000), San Francisco, April 2000, 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
We introduce a new algorithm, Locally Weighted Projection Regression (LWPR), for incremental real-time learning of nonlinear functions, as particularly useful for problems of autonomous real-time robot control that re-quires internal models of dynamics, kinematics, or other functions. At its core, LWPR uses locally linear models, spanned by a small number of univariate regressions in selected directions in input space, to achieve piecewise linear function approximation. The most outstanding properties of LWPR are that it i) learns rapidly with second order learning methods based on incremental training, ii) uses statistically sound stochastic cross validation to learn iii) adjusts its local weighting kernels based on only local information to avoid interference problems, iv) has a computational complexity that is linear in the number of inputs, and v) can deal with a large number ofâ??possibly redundant and/or irrelevantâ??inputs, as shown in evaluations with up to 50 dimensional data sets for learning the inverse dynamics of an anthropomorphic robot arm. To our knowledge, this is the first incremental neural network learning method to combine all these properties and that is well suited for complex on-line learning problems in robotics.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S. Fast and efficient incremental learning for high-dimensional movement systems In International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2000), San Francisco, April 2000, 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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On-line learning for humanoid robot systems

Conradt, J., Tevatia, G., Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S.

In Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2000), 1, pages: 191-198, Stanford, CA, 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Humanoid robots are high-dimensional movement systems for which analytical system identification and control methods are insufficient due to unknown nonlinearities in the system structure. As a way out, supervised learning methods can be employed to create model-based nonlinear controllers which use functions in the control loop that are estimated by learning algorithms. However, internal models for humanoid systems are rather high-dimensional such that conventional learning algorithms would suffer from slow learning speed, catastrophic interference, and the curse of dimensionality. In this paper we explore a new statistical learning algorithm, locally weighted projection regression (LWPR), for learning internal models in real-time. LWPR is a nonparametric spatially localized learning system that employs the less familiar technique of partial least squares regression to represent functional relationships in a piecewise linear fashion. The algorithm can work successfully in very high dimensional spaces and detect irrelevant and redundant inputs while only requiring a computational complexity that is linear in the number of input dimensions. We demonstrate the application of the algorithm in learning two classical internal models of robot control, the inverse kinematics and the inverse dynamics of an actual seven degree-of-freedom anthropomorphic robot arm. For both examples, LWPR can achieve excellent real-time learning results from less than one hour of actual training data.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Conradt, J., Tevatia, G., Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S. On-line learning for humanoid robot systems In Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2000), 1, pages: 191-198, Stanford, CA, 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Humanoid Robot DB

Kotosaka, S., Shibata, T., Schaal, S.

In Proceedings of the International Conference on Machine Automation (ICMA2000), pages: 21-26, 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

am

[BibTex]

am Kotosaka, S., Shibata, T., Schaal, S. Humanoid Robot DB In Proceedings of the International Conference on Machine Automation (ICMA2000), pages: 21-26, 2000, clmc (inproceedings)

[BibTex]

1998

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Programmable pattern generators

Schaal, S., Sternad, D.

In 3rd International Conference on Computational Intelligence in Neuroscience, pages: 48-51, Research Triangle Park, NC, Oct. 24-28, October 1998, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
This paper explores the idea to create complex human-like arm movements from movement primitives based on nonlinear attractor dynamics. Each degree-of-freedom of an arm is assumed to have two independent abilities to create movement, one through a discrete dynamic system, and one through a rhythmic system. The discrete system creates point-to-point movements based on internal or external target specifications. The rhythmic system can add an additional oscillatory movement relative to the current position of the discrete system. In the present study, we develop appropriate dynamic systems that can realize the above model, motivate the particular choice of the systems from a biological and engineering point of view, and present simulation results of the performance of such movement primitives. Implementation results on a Sarcos Dexterous Arm are discussed.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

1998

am Schaal, S., Sternad, D. Programmable pattern generators In 3rd International Conference on Computational Intelligence in Neuroscience, pages: 48-51, Research Triangle Park, NC, Oct. 24-28, October 1998, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

no image
Robust local learning in high dimensional spaces

Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S.

In 5th Joint Symposium on Neural Computation, pages: 186-193, Institute for Neural Computation, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, 1998, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Incremental learning of sensorimotor transformations in high dimensional spaces is one of the basic prerequisites for the success of autonomous robot devices as well as biological movement systems. So far, due to sparsity of data in high dimensional spaces, learning in such settings requires a significant amount of prior knowledge about the learning task, usually provided by a human expert. In this paper, we suggest a partial revision of this view. Based on empirical studies, we observed that, despite being globally high dimensional and sparse, data distributions from physical movement systems are locally low dimensional and dense. Under this assumption, we derive a learning algorithm, Locally Adaptive Subspace Regression, that exploits this property by combining a dynamically growing local dimensionality reduction technique as a preprocessing step with a nonparametric learning technique, locally weighted regression, that also learns the region of validity of the regression. The usefulness of the algorithm and the validity of its assumptions are illustrated for a synthetic data set, and for data of the inverse dynamics of human arm movements and an actual 7 degree-of-freedom anthropomorphic robot arm.

am

[BibTex]

am Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S. Robust local learning in high dimensional spaces In 5th Joint Symposium on Neural Computation, pages: 186-193, Institute for Neural Computation, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, 1998, clmc (inproceedings)

[BibTex]

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Local dimensionality reduction

Schaal, S., Vijayakumar, S., Atkeson, C. G.

In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 10, pages: 633-639, (Editors: Jordan, M. I.;Kearns, M. J.;Solla, S. A.), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1998, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
If globally high dimensional data has locally only low dimensional distributions, it is advantageous to perform a local dimensionality reduction before further processing the data. In this paper we examine several techniques for local dimensionality reduction in the context of locally weighted linear regression. As possible candidates, we derive local versions of factor analysis regression, principle component regression, principle component regression on joint distributions, and partial least squares regression. After outlining the statistical bases of these methods, we perform Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate their robustness with respect to violations of their statistical assumptions. One surprising outcome is that locally weighted partial least squares regression offers the best average results, thus outperforming even factor analysis, the theoretically most appealing of our candidate techniques.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Schaal, S., Vijayakumar, S., Atkeson, C. G. Local dimensionality reduction In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 10, pages: 633-639, (Editors: Jordan, M. I.;Kearns, M. J.;Solla, S. A.), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1998, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

no image
Constructive incremental learning from only local information

Schaal, S., Atkeson, C. G.

Neural Computation, 10(8):2047-2084, 1998, clmc (article)

Abstract
We introduce a constructive, incremental learning system for regression problems that models data by means of spatially localized linear models. In contrast to other approaches, the size and shape of the receptive field of each locally linear model as well as the parameters of the locally linear model itself are learned independently, i.e., without the need for competition or any other kind of communication. Independent learning is accomplished by incrementally minimizing a weighted local cross validation error. As a result, we obtain a learning system that can allocate resources as needed while dealing with the bias-variance dilemma in a principled way. The spatial localization of the linear models increases robustness towards negative interference. Our learning system can be interpreted as a nonparametric adaptive bandwidth smoother, as a mixture of experts where the experts are trained in isolation, and as a learning system which profits from combining independent expert knowledge on the same problem. This paper illustrates the potential learning capabilities of purely local learning and offers an interesting and powerful approach to learning with receptive fields. 

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Schaal, S., Atkeson, C. G. Constructive incremental learning from only local information Neural Computation, 10(8):2047-2084, 1998, clmc (article)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Biomimetic gaze stabilization based on a study of the vestibulocerebellum

Shibata, T., Schaal, S.

In European Workshop on Learning Robots, pages: 84-94, Edinburgh, UK, 1998, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Accurate oculomotor control is one of the essential pre-requisites for successful visuomotor coordination. In this paper, we suggest a biologically inspired control system for learning gaze stabilization with a biomimetic robotic oculomotor system. In a stepwise fashion, we develop a control circuit for the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) and the opto-kinetic response (OKR), and add a nonlinear learning network to allow adaptivity. We discuss the parallels and differences of our system with biological oculomotor control and suggest solutions how to deal with nonlinearities and time delays in the control system. In simulation and actual robot studies, we demonstrate that our system can learn gaze stabilization in real time in only a few seconds with high final accuracy.

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Shibata, T., Schaal, S. Biomimetic gaze stabilization based on a study of the vestibulocerebellum In European Workshop on Learning Robots, pages: 84-94, Edinburgh, UK, 1998, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

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Towards biomimetic vision

Shibata, T., Schaal, S.

In International Conference on Intelligence Robots and Systems, pages: 872-879, Victoria, Canada, 1998, clmc (inproceedings)

Abstract
Oculomotor control is the foundation of most biological visual systems, as well as an important component in the entire perceptual-motor system. We review some of the most basic principles of biological oculomotor systems, and explore their usefulness from both the biological and computational point of view. As an example of biomimetic oculomotor control, we present the state of our implementations and experimental results using the vestibulo-ocular-reflex and opto-kinetic-reflex paradigm

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Shibata, T., Schaal, S. Towards biomimetic vision In International Conference on Intelligence Robots and Systems, pages: 872-879, Victoria, Canada, 1998, clmc (inproceedings)

link (url) [BibTex]

no image
Local adaptive subspace regression

Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S.

Neural Processing Letters, 7(3):139-149, 1998, clmc (article)

Abstract
Incremental learning of sensorimotor transformations in high dimensional spaces is one of the basic prerequisites for the success of autonomous robot devices as well as biological movement systems. So far, due to sparsity of data in high dimensional spaces, learning in such settings requires a significant amount of prior knowledge about the learning task, usually provided by a human expert. In this paper we suggest a partial revision of the view. Based on empirical studies, we observed that, despite being globally high dimensional and sparse, data distributions from physical movement systems are locally low dimensional and dense. Under this assumption, we derive a learning algorithm, Locally Adaptive Subspace Regression, that exploits this property by combining a dynamically growing local dimensionality reduction technique  as a preprocessing step with a nonparametric learning technique, locally weighted regression, that also learns the region of validity of the regression. The usefulness of the algorithm and the validity of its assumptions are illustrated for a synthetic data set, and for data of the inverse dynamics of human arm movements and an actual 7 degree-of-freedom anthropomorphic robot arm. 

am

link (url) [BibTex]

am Vijayakumar, S., Schaal, S. Local adaptive subspace regression Neural Processing Letters, 7(3):139-149, 1998, clmc (article)

link (url) [BibTex]