• Main scientific goal: Synthesis and analysis of intelligent
decision-making systems.
• Main tools: Probability theory, statistics, optimization,
analysis of algorithms, numerical approximations, robotics, …
Agent
Environment
Abilities Goals/Preferences
Prior Knowledge
Actions Observations
Joelle Pineau 2
Reinforcement learning paradigm
Agent
Environment
actionatst
rewardrt
rt+1
st+1
state
€
E rtt= 0
T
∑
Choose actions such as maximize the sum of rewards,
Challenging cases: state space is large/continuous, states are
partially observed, state representation is not given, action space
is continuous, dynamics and effects of actions are poorly modeled,
rewards are not known in advance, …
Joelle Pineau 3
SmartWheeler project
• Autonomous navigation in large natural environments under
sensor uncertainty.
• Robust human-robot interaction and dialogue management.
• Learning patterns of user behaviors.
Joelle Pineau 4
Adaptive deep-brain stimulation Goal: To create an adaptive
neuro-stimulation system that can maximally
reduce the incidence of epileptiform activity.
Joelle Pineau 5
General info
• Co-director of the Reasoning and Learning Lab.
• Research openings: 1 student with good math/stats and
programming skills.
