Defining Object Types and Options Using MDP Homomorphisms

Agents in complex environments can have a wide range of tasks to perform over time. However, often there are sets of tasks that involve similar goals on similar objects, e.g., the skill of making a car move to a destination is similar for all cars. This paper lays out a framework for specifying goals that are parameterized with focus objects, as well as defining object type in such a way that objects of the same type share policies. The method is agnostic as to the underlying state representation, as long as simple functions of the state of the object can be calculated.