1. A method for controlling actions of robots, the method comprising: identifying, at a device that includes a processor, a first context-variable value for a context variable detected by a robot at a sensory-detection time; accessing, at the device, a policy that maps the context variable to a robot action variable; determining that a first robot action characterized by a first value of the robot action variable was performed at an action time in response to detection of the first context-variable value, the first robot action being in accordance with application of the policy; determining that a user input was received at an input time corresponding to the action time, wherein user input data derived from the user input at least partly defines a corrective command that specifies a corrective robot action for physical performance, and the user input being indicative of at least partial dissatisfaction with the robot action; modifying the policy based on the correction command and the context-variable value; and causing the modified policy to be used to determine a second value of the robot action variable based on a second context-variable value for the context variable detected at a second sensory-detection time; and initiate performance of a second robot action performance in accordance with the second value of the action variable.