Parallel Heuristic Search as Inference for Actor-Critic Reinforcement Learning Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Yang, Hanlan, Mishani, Itamar, Pivetti, Luca, Kingston, Zachary, Likhachev, Maxim
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Yang, Hanlan
Mishani, Itamar
Pivetti, Luca
Kingston, Zachary
Likhachev, Maxim
author_facet Yang, Hanlan
Mishani, Itamar
Pivetti, Luca
Kingston, Zachary
Likhachev, Maxim
contents Actor-Critic models are a class of model-free deep reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms that have demonstrated effectiveness across various robot learning tasks. While considerable research has focused on improving training stability and data sampling efficiency, most deployment strategies have remained relatively simplistic, typically relying on direct actor policy rollouts. In contrast, we propose \pachs{} (\textit{P}arallel \textit{A}ctor-\textit{C}ritic \textit{H}euristic \textit{S}earch), an efficient parallel best-first search algorithm for inference that leverages both components of the actor-critic architecture: the actor network generates actions, while the critic network provides cost-to-go estimates to guide the search. Two levels of parallelism are employed within the search -- actions and cost-to-go estimates are generated in batches by the actor and critic networks respectively, and graph expansion is distributed across multiple threads. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in robotic manipulation tasks, including collision-free motion planning and contact-rich interactions such as non-prehensile pushing. Visit p-achs.github.io for demonstrations and examples.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_25402
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Parallel Heuristic Search as Inference for Actor-Critic Reinforcement Learning Models
Yang, Hanlan
Mishani, Itamar
Pivetti, Luca
Kingston, Zachary
Likhachev, Maxim
Robotics
Actor-Critic models are a class of model-free deep reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms that have demonstrated effectiveness across various robot learning tasks. While considerable research has focused on improving training stability and data sampling efficiency, most deployment strategies have remained relatively simplistic, typically relying on direct actor policy rollouts. In contrast, we propose \pachs{} (\textit{P}arallel \textit{A}ctor-\textit{C}ritic \textit{H}euristic \textit{S}earch), an efficient parallel best-first search algorithm for inference that leverages both components of the actor-critic architecture: the actor network generates actions, while the critic network provides cost-to-go estimates to guide the search. Two levels of parallelism are employed within the search -- actions and cost-to-go estimates are generated in batches by the actor and critic networks respectively, and graph expansion is distributed across multiple threads. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in robotic manipulation tasks, including collision-free motion planning and contact-rich interactions such as non-prehensile pushing. Visit p-achs.github.io for demonstrations and examples.
title Parallel Heuristic Search as Inference for Actor-Critic Reinforcement Learning Models
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.25402