Reinforcement learning with multi-fidelity simulators
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How_Reinforcement learning.pdf
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Author(s) • •
Cutler, Mark Johnson
Walsh, Thomas J
How, Jonathan P
Date Issued
June 2014
Journal
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Proceedings
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Citation
Cutler, Mark, Thomas J. Walsh, and Jonathan P. How. “Reinforcement Learning with Multi-Fidelity Simulators.” IEEE, 2014. 3888–3895.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
We present a framework for reinforcement learning (RL) in a scenario where multiple simulators are available with decreasing amounts of fidelity to the real-world learning scenario. Our framework is designed to limit the number of samples used in each successively higher-fidelity/cost simulator by allowing the agent to choose to run trajectories at the lowest level that will still provide it with information. The approach transfers state-action Q-values from lower-fidelity models as heuristics for the “Knows What It Knows” family of RL algorithms, which is applicable over a wide range of possible dynamics and reward representations. Theoretical proofs of the framework's sample complexity are given and empirical results are demonstrated on a remote controlled car with multiple simulators. The approach allows RL algorithms to find near-optimal policies for the real world with fewer expensive real-world samples than previous transfer approaches or learning without simulators.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems
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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRA.2014.6907423