Interpretable reinforcement learning for heat pump control through asymmetric differentiable decision trees

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Van Puyvelde, Toon, Zareh, Mehran, Develder, Chris
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Van Puyvelde, Toon
Zareh, Mehran
Develder, Chris
author_facet Van Puyvelde, Toon
Zareh, Mehran
Develder, Chris
contents In recent years, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithms have gained traction in home energy management systems. However, their adoption by energy management companies remains limited due to the black-box nature of DRL, which fails to provide transparent decision-making feedback. To address this, explainable reinforcement learning (XRL) techniques have emerged, aiming to make DRL decisions more transparent. Among these, soft differential decision tree (DDT) distillation provides a promising approach due to the clear decision rules they are based on, which can be efficiently computed. However, achieving high performance often requires deep, and completely full, trees, which reduces interpretability. To overcome this, we propose a novel asymmetric soft DDT construction method. Unlike traditional soft DDTs, our approach adaptively constructs trees by expanding nodes only when necessary. This improves the efficient use of decision nodes, which require a predetermined depth to construct full symmetric trees, enhancing both interpretability and performance. We demonstrate the potential of asymmetric DDTs to provide transparent, efficient, and high-performing decision-making in home energy management systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_01641
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Interpretable reinforcement learning for heat pump control through asymmetric differentiable decision trees
Van Puyvelde, Toon
Zareh, Mehran
Develder, Chris
Systems and Control
Machine Learning
In recent years, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithms have gained traction in home energy management systems. However, their adoption by energy management companies remains limited due to the black-box nature of DRL, which fails to provide transparent decision-making feedback. To address this, explainable reinforcement learning (XRL) techniques have emerged, aiming to make DRL decisions more transparent. Among these, soft differential decision tree (DDT) distillation provides a promising approach due to the clear decision rules they are based on, which can be efficiently computed. However, achieving high performance often requires deep, and completely full, trees, which reduces interpretability. To overcome this, we propose a novel asymmetric soft DDT construction method. Unlike traditional soft DDTs, our approach adaptively constructs trees by expanding nodes only when necessary. This improves the efficient use of decision nodes, which require a predetermined depth to construct full symmetric trees, enhancing both interpretability and performance. We demonstrate the potential of asymmetric DDTs to provide transparent, efficient, and high-performing decision-making in home energy management systems.
title Interpretable reinforcement learning for heat pump control through asymmetric differentiable decision trees
topic Systems and Control
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.01641