The cartpole is a control task available in OpenAI Gym, and has been studied for many years. Although it is relatively simple compared to others, it contains all that we need in order to implement a reinforcement learning algorithm, and everything that we develop here can be applied to other, more complex learning tasks. It can also serve as an example of robotic manipulation in a simulated environment. The advantage of taking one of the less demanding tasks is that training and turnaround is quicker.
OpenAI Gym is an open source library that can help to develop reinforcement algorithms by standardizing a broad range of environments for agents to interact with. OpenAI Gym comes with hundreds of environments and integrations ranging from robotic control, and walking in 3D to computer games and self-driving cars: https://gym.openai.com/.
The cartpole task is depicted in the following screenshot of the OpenAI Gym environment and consists of moving a cart to the left...
