Decision making under uncertainty is commonly modelled as a process of competitive stochastic evidence accumulation to threshold (the drift-diffusion model). However, it is unknown how animals learn these decision thresholds. We examine threshold learning by constructing a reward function that averages over many trials to Wald's cost function that defines decision optimality. These rewards are highly stochastic and hence challenging to optimize, which we address in two ways: first, a simple two-factor reward-modulated learning rule derived from Williams' REINFORCE method for neural networks; and second, Bayesian optimization of the reward function with a Gaussian process. Bayesian optimization converges in fewer trials than REINFORCE but is slower computationally with greater variance. The REINFORCE method is also a better model of acquisition behaviour in animals and a similar learning rule has been proposed for modelling basal ganglia function.

Reliable brain-computer interface (BCI) control of robots provides an intuitive and accessible means of human-robot interaction, particularly valuable for individuals with motor impairments. However, existing BCI-Robot systems face major limitations: electroencephalography (EEG) signals are noisy and unstable, target selection is often predefined and inflexible, and most studies remain restricted to simulation without closed-loop validation. These issues hinder real-world deployment in assistive scenarios. To address them, we propose a closed-loop BCI-AR-Robot system that integrates motor imagery (MI)-based EEG decoding, augmented reality (AR) neurofeedback, and robotic grasping for zero-touch operation. A 14-channel EEG headset enabled individualized MI calibration, a smartphone-based AR interface supported multi-target navigation with direction-congruent feedback to enhance stability, and the robotic arm combined decision outputs with vision-based pose estimation for autonomous grasping. Experiments are conducted to validate the framework: MI training achieved 93.1 percent accuracy with an average information transfer rate (ITR) of 14.8 bit/min; AR neurofeedback significantly improved sustained control (SCI = 0.210) and achieved the highest ITR (21.3 bit/min) compared with static, sham, and no-AR baselines; and closed-loop grasping achieved a 97.2 percent success rate with good efficiency and strong user-reported control. These results show that AR feedback substantially stabilizes EEG-based control and that the proposed framework enables robust zero-touch grasping, advancing assistive robotic applications and future modes of human-robot interaction.

-- In swarm robotics, confrontation scenarios, including strategic confrontations, require efficient decision-making that integrates discrete commands and continuous actions. Traditional task and motion planning methods separate decision-making into two layers, but their unidirectional structure fails to capture the interdependence between these layers, limiting adaptability in dynamic environments. Here, we propose a novel bidirectional approach based on hierarchical reinforcement learning, enabling dynamic interaction between the layers. This method effectively maps commands to task allocation and actions to path planning, while leveraging cross-training techniques to enhance learning across the hierarchical framework. Furthermore, we introduce a trajectory prediction model that bridges abstract task representations with actionable planning goals. In our experiments, it achieves over 80% in confrontation win rate and under 0.01 seconds in decision time, outperforming existing approaches. Demonstrations through large-scale tests and real-world robot experiments further emphasize the generalization capabilities and practical applicability of our method. I. INTRODUCTION Recent advances in artificial intelligence lead to significant progress in robotics [1], [2], with particular attention given to robotic swarm confrontations [3], [4].

In the context of AI-based decision support systems, explanations can help users to judge when to trust the AI's suggestion, and when to question it. In this way, human oversight can prevent AI errors and biased decision-making. However, this rests on the assumption that users will consider explanations in enough detail to be able to catch such errors. We conducted an online study on trust in explainable DSS, and were surprised to find that in many cases, participants spent little time on the explanation and did not always consider it in detail. We present an exploratory analysis of this data, investigating what factors impact how carefully study participants consider AI explanations, and how this in turn impacts whether they are open to changing their mind based on what the AI suggests.

Data discovery and table unionability in particular became key tasks in modern Data Science. However, the human perspective for these tasks is still under-explored. Thus, this research investigates the human behavior in determining table unionability within data discovery. We have designed an experimental survey and conducted a comprehensive analysis, in which we assess human decision-making for table unionability. We use the observations from the analysis to develop a machine learning framework to boost the (raw) performance of humans. Furthermore, we perform a preliminary study on how LLM performance is compared to humans indicating that it is typically better to consider a combination of both. We believe that this work lays the foundations for developing future Human-in-the-Loop systems for efficient data discovery.

Boolean Satisfiability (SAT) solvers are foundational to computer science, yet their performance typically hinges on hand-crafted heuristics. This work introduces Reinforcement Learning from Algorithm Feedback (RLAF) as a paradigm for learning to guide SAT solver branching heuristics with Graph Neural Networks (GNNs). Central to our approach is a novel and generic mechanism for injecting inferred variable weights and polarities into the branching heuristics of existing SAT solvers. In a single forward pass, a GNN assigns these parameters to all variables. Casting this one-shot guidance as a reinforcement learning problem lets us train the GNN with off-the-shelf policy-gradient methods, such as GRPO, directly using the solver's computational cost as the sole reward signal. Extensive evaluations demonstrate that RLAF-trained policies significantly reduce the mean solve times of different base solvers across diverse SAT problem distributions, achieving more than a 2x speedup in some cases, while generalizing effectively to larger and harder problems after training. Notably, these policies consistently outperform expert-supervised approaches based on learning handcrafted weighting heuristics, offering a promising path towards data-driven heuristic design in combinatorial optimization.

Inspection of infrastructure using static sensor nodes has become a well established approach in recent decades. In this work, we present an experimental setup to address a binary inspection task using mobile sensor nodes. The objective is to identify the predominant tile type in a 1mx1m tiled surface composed of vibrating and non-vibrating tiles. A swarm of miniaturized robots, equipped with onboard IMUs for sensing and IR sensors for collision avoidance, performs the inspection. The decision-making approach leverages a Bayesian algorithm, updating robots' belief using inference. The original algorithm uses one of two information sharing strategies. We introduce a novel information sharing strategy, aiming to accelerate the decision-making. To optimize the algorithm parameters, we develop a simulation framework calibrated to our real-world setup in the high-fidelity Webots robotic simulator. We evaluate the three information sharing strategies through simulations and real-world experiments. Moreover, we test the effectiveness of our optimization by placing swarms with optimized and non-optimized parameters in increasingly complex environments with varied spatial correlation and fill ratios. Results show that our proposed information sharing strategy consistently outperforms previously established information-sharing strategies in decision time. Additionally, optimized parameters yield robust performance across different environments. Conversely, non-optimized parameters perform well in simpler scenarios but show reduced accuracy in complex settings.

We consider reinforcement learning (RL) for a class of problems with bagged decision times. A bag contains a finite sequence of consecutive decision times. The transition dynamics are non-Markovian and non-stationary within a bag. Further, all actions within a bag jointly impact a single reward, observed at the end of the bag. Our goal is to construct an online RL algorithm to maximize the discounted sum of the bag-specific rewards. To handle non-Markovian transitions within a bag, we utilize an expert-provided causal directed acyclic graph (DAG). Based on the DAG, we construct the states as a dynamical Bayesian sufficient statistic of the observed history, which results in Markovian state transitions within and across bags. We then frame this problem as a periodic Markov decision process (MDP) that allows non-stationarity within a period. An online RL algorithm based on Bellman-equations for stationary MDPs is generalized to handle periodic MDPs. To justify the proposed RL algorithm, we show that our constructed state achieves the maximal optimal value function among all state constructions for a periodic MDP. Further we prove the Bellman optimality equations for periodic MDPs. We evaluate the proposed method on testbed variants, constructed with real data from a mobile health clinical trial.