Distributions as Actions: A Unified Framework for Diverse Action Spaces
Fuente:
arXiv
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1866917492391149568 |
|---|---|
| author | He, Jiamin Mahmood, A. Rupam White, Martha |
| author_facet | He, Jiamin Mahmood, A. Rupam White, Martha |
| contents | We introduce a novel reinforcement learning (RL) framework that treats parameterized action distributions as actions, redefining the boundary between agent and environment. This reparameterization makes the new action space continuous, regardless of the original action type (discrete, continuous, hybrid, etc.). Under this new parameterization, we develop a generalized deterministic policy gradient estimator, Distributions-as-Actions Policy Gradient (DA-PG), which has lower variance than the gradient in the original action space. Although learning the critic over distribution parameters poses new challenges, we introduce Interpolated Critic Learning (ICL), a simple yet effective strategy to enhance learning, supported by insights from bandit settings. Building on TD3, a strong baseline for continuous control, we propose a practical actor-critic algorithm, Distributions-as-Actions Actor-Critic (DA-AC). Empirically, DA-AC achieves competitive performance in various settings across discrete, continuous, and hybrid control. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_16608 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Distributions as Actions: A Unified Framework for Diverse Action Spaces He, Jiamin Mahmood, A. Rupam White, Martha Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence We introduce a novel reinforcement learning (RL) framework that treats parameterized action distributions as actions, redefining the boundary between agent and environment. This reparameterization makes the new action space continuous, regardless of the original action type (discrete, continuous, hybrid, etc.). Under this new parameterization, we develop a generalized deterministic policy gradient estimator, Distributions-as-Actions Policy Gradient (DA-PG), which has lower variance than the gradient in the original action space. Although learning the critic over distribution parameters poses new challenges, we introduce Interpolated Critic Learning (ICL), a simple yet effective strategy to enhance learning, supported by insights from bandit settings. Building on TD3, a strong baseline for continuous control, we propose a practical actor-critic algorithm, Distributions-as-Actions Actor-Critic (DA-AC). Empirically, DA-AC achieves competitive performance in various settings across discrete, continuous, and hybrid control. |
| title | Distributions as Actions: A Unified Framework for Diverse Action Spaces |
| topic | Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.16608 |