Structural Transfer of Cognitive Skills

This paper investigates a computational approach to transfer: the ability to use previously learned knowledge on related but distinct tasks. We study transfer in the context of an agent architecture, Icarus, and we claim that many forms of transfer follow automatically from its use of structured concepts and skills. We show that Icarus can acquire structured representations from domain experience, and subsequently transfer that knowledge into new tasks. We present results from multiple experiments in the Urban Combat Testbed, a simulated, real-time, three-dimensional environment with realistic dynamics.