vMFER: Von Mises-Fisher Experience Resampling Based on Uncertainty of Gradient Directions for Policy Improvement

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Zhu, Yiwen, Liu, Jinyi, Wei, Wenya, Fu, Qianyi, Hu, Yujing, Fang, Zhou, An, Bo, Hao, Jianye, Lv, Tangjie, Fan, Changjie
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Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Zhu, Yiwen
Liu, Jinyi
Wei, Wenya
Fu, Qianyi
Hu, Yujing
Fang, Zhou
An, Bo
Hao, Jianye
Lv, Tangjie
Fan, Changjie
author_facet Zhu, Yiwen
Liu, Jinyi
Wei, Wenya
Fu, Qianyi
Hu, Yujing
Fang, Zhou
An, Bo
Hao, Jianye
Lv, Tangjie
Fan, Changjie
contents Reinforcement Learning (RL) is a widely employed technique in decision-making problems, encompassing two fundamental operations -- policy evaluation and policy improvement. Enhancing learning efficiency remains a key challenge in RL, with many efforts focused on using ensemble critics to boost policy evaluation efficiency. However, when using multiple critics, the actor in the policy improvement process can obtain different gradients. Previous studies have combined these gradients without considering their disagreements. Therefore, optimizing the policy improvement process is crucial to enhance learning efficiency. This study focuses on investigating the impact of gradient disagreements caused by ensemble critics on policy improvement. We introduce the concept of uncertainty of gradient directions as a means to measure the disagreement among gradients utilized in the policy improvement process. Through measuring the disagreement among gradients, we find that transitions with lower uncertainty of gradient directions are more reliable in the policy improvement process. Building on this analysis, we propose a method called von Mises-Fisher Experience Resampling (vMFER), which optimizes the policy improvement process by resampling transitions and assigning higher confidence to transitions with lower uncertainty of gradient directions. Our experiments demonstrate that vMFER significantly outperforms the benchmark and is particularly well-suited for ensemble structures in RL.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_08638
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle vMFER: Von Mises-Fisher Experience Resampling Based on Uncertainty of Gradient Directions for Policy Improvement
Zhu, Yiwen
Liu, Jinyi
Wei, Wenya
Fu, Qianyi
Hu, Yujing
Fang, Zhou
An, Bo
Hao, Jianye
Lv, Tangjie
Fan, Changjie
Machine Learning
Reinforcement Learning (RL) is a widely employed technique in decision-making problems, encompassing two fundamental operations -- policy evaluation and policy improvement. Enhancing learning efficiency remains a key challenge in RL, with many efforts focused on using ensemble critics to boost policy evaluation efficiency. However, when using multiple critics, the actor in the policy improvement process can obtain different gradients. Previous studies have combined these gradients without considering their disagreements. Therefore, optimizing the policy improvement process is crucial to enhance learning efficiency. This study focuses on investigating the impact of gradient disagreements caused by ensemble critics on policy improvement. We introduce the concept of uncertainty of gradient directions as a means to measure the disagreement among gradients utilized in the policy improvement process. Through measuring the disagreement among gradients, we find that transitions with lower uncertainty of gradient directions are more reliable in the policy improvement process. Building on this analysis, we propose a method called von Mises-Fisher Experience Resampling (vMFER), which optimizes the policy improvement process by resampling transitions and assigning higher confidence to transitions with lower uncertainty of gradient directions. Our experiments demonstrate that vMFER significantly outperforms the benchmark and is particularly well-suited for ensemble structures in RL.
title vMFER: Von Mises-Fisher Experience Resampling Based on Uncertainty of Gradient Directions for Policy Improvement
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.08638