Related papers: Environment-Centric Active Inference
Active inference is a theory that underpins the way biological agent's perceive and act in the real world. At its core, active inference is based on the principle that the brain is an approximate Bayesian inference engine, building an…
This is a contribution to the formalization of the concept of agents in multivariate Markov chains. Agents are commonly defined as entities that act, perceive, and are goal-directed. In a multivariate Markov chain (e.g. a cellular…
Active inference is a first principle account of how autonomous agents operate in dynamic, non-stationary environments. This problem is also considered in reinforcement learning (RL), but limited work exists on comparing the two approaches…
In this paper we introduce a general estimation methodology for learning a model of human perception and control in a sensorimotor control task based upon a finite set of demonstrations. The model's structure consists of i the agent's…
Achieving fully autonomous exploration and navigation remains a critical challenge in robotics, requiring integrated solutions for localisation, mapping, decision-making and motion planning. Existing approaches either rely on strict…
Active inference is an ambitious theory that treats perception, inference and action selection of autonomous agents under the heading of a single principle. It suggests biologically plausible explanations for many cognitive phenomena,…
We describe a framework of hybrid cognition by formulating a hybrid cognitive agent that performs hierarchical active inference across a human and a machine part. We suggest that, in addition to enhancing human cognitive functions with an…
Research on the so-called "free-energy principle'' (FEP) in cognitive neuroscience is becoming increasingly high-profile. To date, introductions to this theory have proved difficult for many readers to follow, but it depends mainly upon two…
Accurately assessing the potential value of new sensor observations is a critical aspect of planning for active perception. This task is particularly challenging when reasoning about high-level scene understanding using measurements from…
Climate change is a major global challenge today. To assess how policies may lead to mitigation, economists have developed Integrated Assessment Models, however, most of the equilibrium based models have faced heavy critiques. Agent-based…
Computational agents support humans in many areas of life and are therefore found in heterogeneous contexts. This means they operate in rapidly changing environments and can be confronted with huge state and action spaces. In order to…
We consider a general model of the sensorimotor loop of an agent interacting with the world. This formalises Uexk\"ull's notion of a \emph{function-circle}. Here, we assume a particular causal structure, mechanistically described in terms…
The world consists of objects: distinct entities possessing independent properties and dynamics. For agents to interact with the world intelligently, they must translate sensory inputs into the bound-together features that describe each…
This work combines the free energy principle from cognitive neuroscience and the ensuing active inference dynamics with recent advances in variational inference in deep generative models, and evolution strategies to introduce the "deep…
This paper argues that Active Inference (AIF) provides a crucial foundation for developing autonomous AI agents capable of learning from experience without continuous human reward engineering. As AI systems begin to exhaust high-quality…
More adaptive controllers for robot manipulators are needed, which can deal with large model uncertainties. This paper presents a novel active inference controller (AIC) as an adaptive control scheme for industrial robots. This scheme is…
In the last decade, the free energy principle (FEP) and active inference (AIF) have achieved many successes connecting conceptual models of learning and cognition to mathematical models of perception and action. This effort is driven by a…
Active Inference is an emerging framework providing a quantitative account of behavioral processes in neuroscience and a principled approach to decision-making under uncertainty. Its application to agency problems is natural, offering an…
Traditional models of rational action treat the agent as though it is cleanly separated from its environment, and can act on that environment from the outside. Such agents have a known functional relationship with their environment, can…
In autonomous robotic decision-making under uncertainty, the tradeoff between exploitation and exploration of available options must be considered. If secondary information associated with options can be utilized, such decision-making…