3,519 research outputs found
Kernelizing LSPE λ
We propose the use of kernel-based methods as underlying function approximator in the least-squares based policy evaluation framework of LSPE(λ) and LSTD(λ). In particular we present the ‘kernelization’ of model-free LSPE(λ). The ‘kernelization’ is computationally made possible by using the subset of regressors approximation, which approximates the kernel using a vastly reduced number of basis functions. The core of our proposed solution is an efficient recursive implementation with automatic supervised selection of the relevant basis functions. The LSPE method is well-suited for optimistic policy iteration and can thus be used in the context of online reinforcement learning. We use the high-dimensional Octopus benchmark to demonstrate this
Geodesic Gaussian kernels for value function approximation
The least-squares policy iteration approach works efficiently in value function approximation, given appropriate basis functions. Because of its smoothness, the Gaussian kernel is a popular and useful choice as a basis function. However, it does not allow for discontinuity which typically arises in real-world reinforcement learning tasks. In this paper, we propose a new basis function based on geodesic Gaussian kernels, which exploits the non-linear manifold structure induced by the Markov decision processes. The usefulness of the proposed method is successfully demonstrated in simulated robot arm control and Khepera robot navigation
Cover Tree Bayesian Reinforcement Learning
This paper proposes an online tree-based Bayesian approach for reinforcement
learning. For inference, we employ a generalised context tree model. This
defines a distribution on multivariate Gaussian piecewise-linear models, which
can be updated in closed form. The tree structure itself is constructed using
the cover tree method, which remains efficient in high dimensional spaces. We
combine the model with Thompson sampling and approximate dynamic programming to
obtain effective exploration policies in unknown environments. The flexibility
and computational simplicity of the model render it suitable for many
reinforcement learning problems in continuous state spaces. We demonstrate this
in an experimental comparison with least squares policy iteration
Do optimization methods in deep learning applications matter?
With advances in deep learning, exponential data growth and increasing model
complexity, developing efficient optimization methods are attracting much
research attention. Several implementations favor the use of Conjugate Gradient
(CG) and Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) as being practical and elegant
solutions to achieve quick convergence, however, these optimization processes
also present many limitations in learning across deep learning applications.
Recent research is exploring higher-order optimization functions as better
approaches, but these present very complex computational challenges for
practical use. Comparing first and higher-order optimization functions, in this
paper, our experiments reveal that Levemberg-Marquardt (LM) significantly
supersedes optimal convergence but suffers from very large processing time
increasing the training complexity of both, classification and reinforcement
learning problems. Our experiments compare off-the-shelf optimization
functions(CG, SGD, LM and L-BFGS) in standard CIFAR, MNIST, CartPole and
FlappyBird experiments.The paper presents arguments on which optimization
functions to use and further, which functions would benefit from
parallelization efforts to improve pretraining time and learning rate
convergence
On the Use of Non-Stationary Policies for Stationary Infinite-Horizon Markov Decision Processes
We consider infinite-horizon stationary -discounted Markov Decision
Processes, for which it is known that there exists a stationary optimal policy.
Using Value and Policy Iteration with some error at each iteration,
it is well-known that one can compute stationary policies that are
-optimal. After arguing that this
guarantee is tight, we develop variations of Value and Policy Iteration for
computing non-stationary policies that can be up to
-optimal, which constitutes a significant
improvement in the usual situation when is close to 1. Surprisingly,
this shows that the problem of "computing near-optimal non-stationary policies"
is much simpler than that of "computing near-optimal stationary policies"
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