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Letter World: The Labelling Function

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Overview

In the RM/CRM framework, the labelling function is responsible for translating low-level environment states into meaningful symbolic events. This abstraction allows us to define rewards in terms of high-level concepts rather than raw state values.

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The Labelling Function Concept

The labelling function serves as a critical component that:
  • Abstracts away low-level environment details
  • Produces symbolic events that the RM/CRM can understand
  • Enables task specification using high-level symbols
  • Creates a clear separation between environment dynamics and reward logic
For the Letter World environment, the labelling function detects when the agent encounters one of the letters (A, B, or C) and generates the corresponding symbolic event.

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Implementation Details

In PyCRM, the labelling function is defined as a class that inherits from the base LabellingFunction class. 
from enum import Enum, auto

import numpy as np

from pycrm.label import LabellingFunction


class Symbol(Enum):
    """Symbols in the Letter World environment."""

    A = auto()
    B = auto()
    C = auto()


class LetterWorldLabellingFunction(LabellingFunction[np.ndarray, int]):
    """Labelling function for the Letter World environment."""

    A_B_POSITION = np.array([1, 1])
    C_POSITION = np.array([1, 5])

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Symbolic Events

The Symbol enum defines the set of possible symbolic events that can be detected in the environment:
  • Symbol.A: Represents seeing the letter A
  • Symbol.B: Represents seeing the letter B
  • Symbol.C: Represents seeing the letter C
These symbols form the “vocabulary” that the RM/CRM will use to define rewards.

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Event Detection Methods

The labelling function defines methods that detect specific events based on the agent’s observations. Each method is decorated with @LabellingFunction.event to indicate that it’s an event detector.

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Detecting Symbol A

@LabellingFunction.event
def test_symbol_a(
    self, obs: np.ndarray, action: np.ndarray, next_obs: np.ndarray
) -> Symbol | None:
    """Return if the agent observes symbol A."""
    if next_obs[0] == 0 and np.array_equal(next_obs[1:], self.A_B_POSITION):
        return Symbol.A
    return None
This method checks if the agent is at the A/B position ([1, 1]) and the symbol has not been seen yet (next_obs[0] == 0). If true, it returns the Symbol.A event.

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Detecting Symbol B

@LabellingFunction.event
def test_symbol_b(
    self, obs: np.ndarray, action: np.ndarray, next_obs: np.ndarray
) -> Symbol | None:
    """Return if the agent observes symbol B."""
    if next_obs[0] == 1 and np.array_equal(next_obs[1:], self.A_B_POSITION):
        return Symbol.B
    return None
This method checks if the agent is at the A/B position ([1, 1]) and the symbol has been seen (next_obs[0] == 1). If true, it returns the Symbol.B event.

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Detecting Symbol C

@LabellingFunction.event
def test_symbol_c(
    self, obs: np.ndarray, action: np.ndarray, next_obs: np.ndarray
) -> Symbol | None:
    """Return if the agent observes symbol C."""
    if next_obs[0] == 1 and np.array_equal(next_obs[1:], self.C_POSITION):
        return Symbol.C
    return None
This method checks if the agent is at the C position ([1, 5]) and the symbol has been seen (next_obs[0] == 1). If true, it returns the Symbol.C event.

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Using the Labelling Function

The labelling function is used by passing it to the cross-product environment along with the ground environment and the CRM. Here’s a simple example: 
# Create components
ground_env = LetterWorld()
lf = LetterWorldLabellingFunction()
crm = LetterWorldCountingRewardMachine()

# Create cross-product environment
env = LetterWorldCrossProduct(
    ground_env=ground_env,
    crm=crm,
    lf=lf,
    max_steps=500,
)

# During execution, the labelling function will automatically
# translate environment observations to symbolic events
obs, _ = env.reset()
action = env.action_space.sample()
next_obs, reward, terminated, truncated, info = env.step(action)

# The info dictionary contains the detected events
print(f"Detected events: {info.get('events', [])}")

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The Role of the Labelling Function

Within the RM/CRM framework, the labelling function serves several important roles:

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1. Abstraction

It abstracts away the low-level details of the environment, allowing the reward machine to operate on meaningful symbolic events rather than raw observations.

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2. Event Detection

It detects important events that should trigger state transitions in the reward machine, such as visiting specific locations or achieving subgoals.

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Key Points

  • The labelling function translates low-level observations to high-level symbols
  • For Letter World, it detects when the agent sees letters A, B, or C
  • Each event detector method returns a symbolic event or None
  • The function handles the stochastic nature of the environment (A changing to B)
  • The events form the “alphabet” used by the RM/CRM

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Next Steps