Homeostatic Primitives
To sustain life, biological organisms must regulate specific internal and external states, with deviations from critical ranges potentially leading to death. For instance, inadequate oxygen intake results in asphyxiation, while too much oxygen can harm the pulmonary and nervous systems.
Organisms exhibit behaviors to manage these vital states, typically through closed-loop control mechanisms. This involves biological systems continuously monitoring and adjusting actions to keep these states within safe limits.
The question of whether these behaviors constitute 'optimal control'—defined as maximizing an objective function over time in a dynamic system—remains open. Although some behaviors are evidently more effective in maintaining vital states, it is not confirmed if biological systems strive for such optimization, like minimizing energy use in control actions.
Understanding these biological control behaviors is crucial for research, particularly in developing tools for experimenting with control strategies in learning agents. Aligning these fundamental strategies with artificial essential states, thereby creating reusable primitives, can significantly advance both experimental work and theoretical discussions.
This is the intended purpose of the library we propose.