Machine Learning with TensorFlow, Second Edition

19 Utility landscape

This chapter covers

• Implementing a neural network for ranking
• Image embedding with VGG16
• Visualizing utility

Processing sensory input enables robots to adjust their model of the world around them. In the case of a vacuum-cleaner robot, the furniture in the room may change day to day, so the robot must be able to adapt to chaotic environments.

Let’s say you own a futuristic housemaid robot, which comes with a few basic skills but also with the ability to learn new skills from human demonstrations. Maybe you’d like to teach it how to fold clothes.

Teaching a robot how to accomplish a new task is a tricky problem. Some immediate questions come to mind:

• Should the robot simply mimic a human’s sequence of actions? Such a ...