Flexible, goal-directed behavior is a fundamental aspect of human life. Based
on the free energy minimization principle, the theory of active inference
formalizes the generation of such behavior from a computational neuroscience
perspective. Based on the theory, we introduce an output-probabilistic,
temporally predictive, modular artificial neural network architecture, which
processes sensorimotor information, infers behavior-relevant aspects of its
world, and invokes highly flexible, goal-directed behavior. We show that our
architecture, which is trained end-to-end to minimize an approximation of free
energy, develops latent states that can be interpreted as affordance maps. That
is, the emerging latent states signal which actions lead to which effects
dependent on the local context. In combination with active inference, we show
that flexible, goal-directed behavior can be invoked, incorporating the
emerging affordance maps. As a result, our simulated agent flexibly steers
through continuous spaces, avoids collisions with obstacles, and prefers
pathways that lead to the goal with high certainty. Additionally, we show that
the learned agent is highly suitable for zero-shot generalization across
environments: After training the agent in a handful of fixed environments with
obstacles and other terrains affecting its behavior, it performs similarly well
in procedurally generated environments containing different amounts of
obstacles and terrains of various sizes at different locations.

基于自由能最小化原则的主动推理理论，提出了一个输出 - 概率、时间预测、模块化人工神经网络结构，能够处理感觉运动信息，推理与行为相关的世界方面，并调用高度灵活、目标导向的行为，其中包括利用形成的地形图灵活驾驶、避免障碍和选择通往目的地的路径。另外，研究表明该学习代理适用于进行零样本推广，适用于不同地形的环境。