PEnGUiN: Partially Equivariant Graph NeUral Networks for Sample Efficient MARL

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: McClellan, Joshua, Brothers, Greyson, Huang, Furong, Tokekar, Pratap
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author McClellan, Joshua
Brothers, Greyson
Huang, Furong
Tokekar, Pratap
author_facet McClellan, Joshua
Brothers, Greyson
Huang, Furong
Tokekar, Pratap
contents Equivariant Graph Neural Networks (EGNNs) have emerged as a promising approach in Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL), leveraging symmetry guarantees to greatly improve sample efficiency and generalization. However, real-world environments often exhibit inherent asymmetries arising from factors such as external forces, measurement inaccuracies, or intrinsic system biases. This paper introduces \textit{Partially Equivariant Graph NeUral Networks (PEnGUiN)}, a novel architecture specifically designed to address these challenges. We formally identify and categorize various types of partial equivariance relevant to MARL, including subgroup equivariance, feature-wise equivariance, regional equivariance, and approximate equivariance. We theoretically demonstrate that PEnGUiN is capable of learning both fully equivariant (EGNN) and non-equivariant (GNN) representations within a unified framework. Through extensive experiments on a range of MARL problems incorporating various asymmetries, we empirically validate the efficacy of PEnGUiN. Our results consistently demonstrate that PEnGUiN outperforms both EGNNs and standard GNNs in asymmetric environments, highlighting their potential to improve the robustness and applicability of graph-based MARL algorithms in real-world scenarios.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_15615
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle PEnGUiN: Partially Equivariant Graph NeUral Networks for Sample Efficient MARL
McClellan, Joshua
Brothers, Greyson
Huang, Furong
Tokekar, Pratap
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Robotics
Equivariant Graph Neural Networks (EGNNs) have emerged as a promising approach in Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL), leveraging symmetry guarantees to greatly improve sample efficiency and generalization. However, real-world environments often exhibit inherent asymmetries arising from factors such as external forces, measurement inaccuracies, or intrinsic system biases. This paper introduces \textit{Partially Equivariant Graph NeUral Networks (PEnGUiN)}, a novel architecture specifically designed to address these challenges. We formally identify and categorize various types of partial equivariance relevant to MARL, including subgroup equivariance, feature-wise equivariance, regional equivariance, and approximate equivariance. We theoretically demonstrate that PEnGUiN is capable of learning both fully equivariant (EGNN) and non-equivariant (GNN) representations within a unified framework. Through extensive experiments on a range of MARL problems incorporating various asymmetries, we empirically validate the efficacy of PEnGUiN. Our results consistently demonstrate that PEnGUiN outperforms both EGNNs and standard GNNs in asymmetric environments, highlighting their potential to improve the robustness and applicability of graph-based MARL algorithms in real-world scenarios.
title PEnGUiN: Partially Equivariant Graph NeUral Networks for Sample Efficient MARL
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.15615