11,115 research outputs found
Learning Task Specifications from Demonstrations
Real world applications often naturally decompose into several sub-tasks. In
many settings (e.g., robotics) demonstrations provide a natural way to specify
the sub-tasks. However, most methods for learning from demonstrations either do
not provide guarantees that the artifacts learned for the sub-tasks can be
safely recombined or limit the types of composition available. Motivated by
this deficit, we consider the problem of inferring Boolean non-Markovian
rewards (also known as logical trace properties or specifications) from
demonstrations provided by an agent operating in an uncertain, stochastic
environment. Crucially, specifications admit well-defined composition rules
that are typically easy to interpret. In this paper, we formulate the
specification inference task as a maximum a posteriori (MAP) probability
inference problem, apply the principle of maximum entropy to derive an analytic
demonstration likelihood model and give an efficient approach to search for the
most likely specification in a large candidate pool of specifications. In our
experiments, we demonstrate how learning specifications can help avoid common
problems that often arise due to ad-hoc reward composition.Comment: NIPS 201
Deductive Optimization of Relational Data Storage
Optimizing the physical data storage and retrieval of data are two key
database management problems. In this paper, we propose a language that can
express a wide range of physical database layouts, going well beyond the row-
and column-based methods that are widely used in database management systems.
We use deductive synthesis to turn a high-level relational representation of a
database query into a highly optimized low-level implementation which operates
on a specialized layout of the dataset. We build a compiler for this language
and conduct experiments using a popular database benchmark, which shows that
the performance of these specialized queries is competitive with a
state-of-the-art in memory compiled database system
Sciduction: Combining Induction, Deduction, and Structure for Verification and Synthesis
Even with impressive advances in automated formal methods, certain problems
in system verification and synthesis remain challenging. Examples include the
verification of quantitative properties of software involving constraints on
timing and energy consumption, and the automatic synthesis of systems from
specifications. The major challenges include environment modeling,
incompleteness in specifications, and the complexity of underlying decision
problems.
This position paper proposes sciduction, an approach to tackle these
challenges by integrating inductive inference, deductive reasoning, and
structure hypotheses. Deductive reasoning, which leads from general rules or
concepts to conclusions about specific problem instances, includes techniques
such as logical inference and constraint solving. Inductive inference, which
generalizes from specific instances to yield a concept, includes algorithmic
learning from examples. Structure hypotheses are used to define the class of
artifacts, such as invariants or program fragments, generated during
verification or synthesis. Sciduction constrains inductive and deductive
reasoning using structure hypotheses, and actively combines inductive and
deductive reasoning: for instance, deductive techniques generate examples for
learning, and inductive reasoning is used to guide the deductive engines.
We illustrate this approach with three applications: (i) timing analysis of
software; (ii) synthesis of loop-free programs, and (iii) controller synthesis
for hybrid systems. Some future applications are also discussed
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