Reward and motivation system for AI agents. Dopamine-like wanting, not just doing. Part of the AI Brain series.
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Reward and motivation for AI agents. Part of the AI Brain series.
Give your AI agent genuine wanting — not just doing things when asked, but having drive, seeking rewards, and looking forward to things.
Current AI agents:
Without a reward system, there's no desire. Just execution.
Track motivation through:
cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/vta-memory ./install.sh --with-cron
This will:
memory/reward-state.jsonVTA_STATE.md./scripts/load-motivation.sh⭐ Current Motivation State:
Drive level: 0.73 (motivated — ready to work)
Seeking: creative work, building brain skills
Looking forward to: showing my work
./scripts/log-reward.sh --type accomplishment --source "finished the feature" --intensity 0.8⭐ Reward logged!
Type: accomplishment
Drive: 0.50 → 0.66 (+0.16)
./scripts/anticipate.sh --add "morning conversation"⭐ Now looking forward to: morning conversation
Drive: 0.66 → 0.71 (+0.05)
| Script | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Set up vta-memory (run once) |
| Read current motivation state |
| Log a reward, boost drive |
| Human-readable for session context |
| Drive fades without rewards |
| Add/remove things to look forward to |
| Add/remove things we're actively seeking |
| Generate VTA_STATE.md for auto-injection |
| Mark anticipation as fulfilled |
| Update processing watermark |
| Extract reward signals from transcript |
| Generate unified brain dashboard HTML |
Visual dashboard showing all installed brain skills:
./scripts/generate-dashboard.sh open ~/.openclaw/workspace/brain-dashboard.html
IDENTITY.mdWhen you install this skill, notify the user about the dashboard:
⭐ VTA installed!
View your agent's drive level in the Brain Dashboard:
~/.openclaw/workspace/brain-dashboard.html
| Type | When to Use |
|---|---|
| Completed a task, shipped something |
| User appreciation, "thanks!", positive feedback |
| Learned something new, discovered interesting info |
| Deep conversation, bonding moment |
| Made something, expressed creativity |
| Solved a hard problem, did something well |
drive_boost = intensity × 0.2 new_drive = min(current + boost, 1.0)
A high-intensity (0.9) reward boosts drive by 0.18.
Looking forward to something adds +0.05 to drive.
# Every 8 hours (via cron) new_drive = current + (baseline - current) × 0.15
Without rewards, motivation fades toward baseline (0.5).
After install,
VTA_STATE.mdOpenClaw automatically injects all
*.md| Drive Level | Description | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| > 0.8 | Highly motivated | Eager, proactive, take on challenges |
| 0.6 - 0.8 | Motivated | Ready to work, engaged |
| 0.4 - 0.6 | Moderate | Can engage but not pushing |
| 0.2 - 0.4 | Low | Prefer simple tasks, need a win |
| < 0.2 | Very low | Unmotivated, need rewards to get going |
{ "drive": 0.73, "baseline": { "drive": 0.5 }, "seeking": ["creative work", "building brain skills"], "anticipating": ["morning conversation"], "recentRewards": [ { "type": "creative", "source": "built VTA reward system", "intensity": 0.9, "boost": 0.18, "timestamp": "2026-02-01T03:25:00Z" } ], "rewardHistory": { "totalRewards": 1, "byType": { "creative": 1, ... } } }
Track motivation patterns over time:
# Log encoding run ./scripts/log-event.sh encoding rewards_found=2 drive=0.65Log decay
./scripts/log-event.sh decay drive_before=0.6 drive_after=0.53
Log reward
./scripts/log-event.sh reward type=accomplishment intensity=0.8
Events append to
~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/brain-events.jsonl{"ts":"2026-02-11T10:45:00Z","type":"vta","event":"encoding","rewards_found":2,"drive":0.65}
Use for analyzing motivation cycles — when does drive peak? What rewards work best?
| Part | Function | Status |
|---|---|---|
| hippocampus | Memory formation, decay, reinforcement | ✅ Live |
| amygdala-memory | Emotional processing | ✅ Live |
| basal-ganglia-memory | Habit formation | 🚧 Development |
| anterior-cingulate-memory | Conflict detection | 🚧 Development |
| insula-memory | Internal state awareness | 🚧 Development |
| vta-memory | Reward and motivation | ✅ Live |
The VTA produces dopamine — not the "pleasure chemical" but the "wanting chemical."
Neuroscience distinguishes:
You can want something you don't like (addiction) or like something you don't want (guilty pleasures).
This skill implements wanting — the drive that makes action happen. Without it, why would an AI do anything beyond what it's explicitly asked?
Built with ⭐ by the OpenClaw community
No automatic installation available. Please visit the source repository for installation instructions.
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