In reinforcement learning (RL) problems, learning agents
sequentially execute actions with the goal of maximizing a reward
signal. The RL framework has gained popularity with the development
of algorithms capable of mastering increasingly complex problems,
but learning difficult tasks is often slow or infeasible when RL
agents begin with no prior knowledge. The key insight behind
"transfer learning" is that generalization may occur not only
within tasks, but also across tasks. While transfer has been
studied in the psychological literature for many years, the RL
community has only recently begun to investigate the benefits of
transferring knowledge. This book provides an introduction to the
RL transfer problem and discusses methods which demonstrate the
promise of this exciting area of research.
The key contributions of this book are:
- Definition of the transfer problem in RL domains
- Background on RL, sufficient to allow a wide audience to
understand discussed transfer concepts
- Taxonomy for transfer methods in RL
- Survey of existing approaches
- In-depth presentation of selected transfer methods
- Discussion of key open questions
By way of the research presented in this book, the author has
established himself as the pre-eminent worldwide expert on transfer
learning in sequential decision making tasks. A particular strength
of the research is its very thorough and methodical empirical
evaluation, which Matthew presents, motivates, and analyzes clearly
in prose throughout the book. Whether this is your initial
introduction to the concept of transfer learning, or whether you
are a practitioner in the field looking for nuanced details, I
trust that you will find this book to be an enjoyable and
enlightening read.
Peter Stone, Associate Professor of Computer Science
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