1. A computer-implemented method for estimating a state-space controller from a set of video frames, comprising: receiving the set of video frames, wherein the video frames include two-dimensional (2D) images which depict a motion of an entity; initializing, via one or more processors, the state-space controller, wherein the state-space controller includes states each corresponding to an atomic controller and transitions between the states; and incrementally optimizing parameters of the state-space controller and changing a structure of the state-space controller to approximate through simulation the motion as depicted in an initial subset of the video frames and in expanded subsets of the video frames, wherein the parameters include at least one of representations of target poses for angular configurations of a body and control and balance parameters, wherein parameters of a last one or more states of the state-space controller are optimized at each stage of the incremental optimization, and wherein changing the structure of the state-space controller includes adding one or more additional states and transitions between states to the state space controller.