Efficient Online RL Fine Tuning with Offline Pre-trained Policy Only

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Xiao, Wei, Liu, Jiacheng, Zhuang, Zifeng, Suo, Runze, Lyu, Shangke, Wang, Donglin
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866912387818323968
author Xiao, Wei
Liu, Jiacheng
Zhuang, Zifeng
Suo, Runze
Lyu, Shangke
Wang, Donglin
author_facet Xiao, Wei
Liu, Jiacheng
Zhuang, Zifeng
Suo, Runze
Lyu, Shangke
Wang, Donglin
contents Improving the performance of pre-trained policies through online reinforcement learning (RL) is a critical yet challenging topic. Existing online RL fine-tuning methods require continued training with offline pretrained Q-functions for stability and performance. However, these offline pretrained Q-functions commonly underestimate state-action pairs beyond the offline dataset due to the conservatism in most offline RL methods, which hinders further exploration when transitioning from the offline to the online setting. Additionally, this requirement limits their applicability in scenarios where only pre-trained policies are available but pre-trained Q-functions are absent, such as in imitation learning (IL) pre-training. To address these challenges, we propose a method for efficient online RL fine-tuning using solely the offline pre-trained policy, eliminating reliance on pre-trained Q-functions. We introduce PORL (Policy-Only Reinforcement Learning Fine-Tuning), which rapidly initializes the Q-function from scratch during the online phase to avoid detrimental pessimism. Our method not only achieves competitive performance with advanced offline-to-online RL algorithms and online RL approaches that leverage data or policies prior, but also pioneers a new path for directly fine-tuning behavior cloning (BC) policies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_16856
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Efficient Online RL Fine Tuning with Offline Pre-trained Policy Only
Xiao, Wei
Liu, Jiacheng
Zhuang, Zifeng
Suo, Runze
Lyu, Shangke
Wang, Donglin
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Robotics
Improving the performance of pre-trained policies through online reinforcement learning (RL) is a critical yet challenging topic. Existing online RL fine-tuning methods require continued training with offline pretrained Q-functions for stability and performance. However, these offline pretrained Q-functions commonly underestimate state-action pairs beyond the offline dataset due to the conservatism in most offline RL methods, which hinders further exploration when transitioning from the offline to the online setting. Additionally, this requirement limits their applicability in scenarios where only pre-trained policies are available but pre-trained Q-functions are absent, such as in imitation learning (IL) pre-training. To address these challenges, we propose a method for efficient online RL fine-tuning using solely the offline pre-trained policy, eliminating reliance on pre-trained Q-functions. We introduce PORL (Policy-Only Reinforcement Learning Fine-Tuning), which rapidly initializes the Q-function from scratch during the online phase to avoid detrimental pessimism. Our method not only achieves competitive performance with advanced offline-to-online RL algorithms and online RL approaches that leverage data or policies prior, but also pioneers a new path for directly fine-tuning behavior cloning (BC) policies.
title Efficient Online RL Fine Tuning with Offline Pre-trained Policy Only
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.16856