Learning Decision Trees for Action Selection in Soccer Agents

Abstract

In highly-dynamic domains such as robotic soccer it is important for agents to take action rapidly, often in the order of a fraction of a second. This requires, a possible longer-term planning component notwithstanding, some form of reactive action selection mechanism. In this paper we report on results employing decision-tree learning to provide a ball-possessing soccer agent in the SIMULATION LEAGUE with such a mechanism. The approach has payed off in at least two ways. For one, the resulting decision tree applies to a much larger set of game situations than those previously reported and performs well in practice. For another, the learning method yielded a set of qualitative features to classify game situations, which are useful beyond reactive decision making.