DBQPG improves policy gradient estimation with fewer samples.
problem Accurate policy gradient estimation with limited samples.
method Deep Bayesian Quadrature Policy Gradient (DBQPG).
result DBQPG provides more accurate and less variable gradient estimates.
Paper presents a rank-1 approximation method for natural policy gradients in deep RL.
problem Computing natural gradients requires inverting the Fisher Information Matrix, which is computationally expensive.
method Develops a rank-1 approximation to the inverse Fisher Information Matrix for efficient natural policy optimization.
result The rank-1 approximation converges faster and has similar sample complexity to stochastic policy gradient methods.
A new method for RL with continuous actions improves stability and scalability.
problem Stability and scalability issues in existing RL methods.
method Soft policy gradient with entropy regularization, combined with double sampling for soft Bellman equation.
result Outperforms off-policy prior methods in continuous action RL tasks.
This paper merges deterministic policy gradient estimations to improve deep reinforcement learning performance.
problem The bias-variance tradeoff in estimating and using policy gradients for deep reinforcement learning.
method Introduces elite policy gradients and a two-step merging method to balance bias-variance tradeoffs.
result Two-step merging outperforms interpolation merging and state-of-the-art algorithms on benchmark control tasks.
Study shows code-level optimizations significantly impact deep RL algorithms.
problem Understanding the impact of implementation details on deep RL algorithms.
method Case study on PPO and TRPO, investigating the effects of code-level optimizations.
result Code-level optimizations are crucial for performance in deep RL algorithms.
This paper uses deep reinforcement learning to optimize stock portfolios considering transaction costs and risks.
problem Optimizing stock portfolios with transaction costs and risks.
method Formulated stock portfolio optimization as a reinforcement learning problem, applied DDPG, GDPG, and PPO algorithms, and used Wavelet Transform.
result DDPG and GDPG algorithms outperformed PPO in continuous action space.
Develops DPG methods for continuous-time RL with deterministic policies.
problem High variance and slow convergence in stochastic policy RL methods.
method Derives continuous-time policy gradient formula and proposes CT-DDPG algorithm.
result CT-DDPG achieves superior stability and faster convergence in continuous-time RL.
Efficient deep policy gradient method for continuous-time control problems.
problem Optimal control in continuous time with fine time discretization.
method Multi-scale deep policy gradient method with varying time discretization.
result Targeted efficiency in computational resources achieved through multi-scale approach.
We study how the behavior of deep policy gradient algorithms reflects the conceptual framework motivating their development. To this end, we propose a fine-grained analysis of state-of-the-art methods based on key elements of this framework: gradient estimation, value prediction, and optimization landscapes. Our result…
Paper proposes MCTSPO for better reinforcement learning policy optimization.
problem Local optima and saddle points in gradient-based methods and poor initialization in gradient-free methods.
method Monte-Carlo tree search combined with gradient-free optimization.
result Improved performance on reinforcement learning tasks with deceptive or sparse reward functions.
Deep neuroevolution and deep reinforcement learning (deep RL) algorithms are two popular approaches to policy search. The former is widely applicable and rather stable, but suffers from low sample efficiency. By contrast, the latter is more sample efficient, but the most sample efficient variants are also rather unstab…
FACMAC combines deep policy gradients with factored critic for multi-agent reinforcement learning.
problem Cooperative multi-agent reinforcement learning in discrete and continuous action spaces.
method FACMAC uses a centralised but factored critic, combining per-agent utilities into a joint action-value function.
result FACMAC outperforms MADDPG and other baselines on multi-agent particle environments and StarCraft II tasks.
This paper compares eight DRL algorithms for dynamic hedging.
problem Optimal dynamic hedging strategies using Deep Reinforcement Learning.
method Eight DRL algorithms (MCPG, PPO, DQL, DDPG) compared using a GJR-GARCH(1,1) simulated dataset.
result MCPG and PPO outperform the Black-Scholes delta hedge baseline.
Recent advances in policy gradient methods and deep learning have demonstrated their applicability for complex reinforcement learning problems. However, the variance of the performance gradient estimates obtained from the simulation is often excessive, leading to poor sample efficiency. In this paper, we apply the stoc…
New algorithm reduces variance in Monte Carlo simulations using deep neural networks and policy gradients.
problem Reducing variance in Monte Carlo simulations for estimating function values.
method Optimal correlation search using deep neural networks and policy gradients.
result Optimal correlation function reduces variance by approximating and calibrating policy.
This research enhances exploration in DDPG using latent trajectory optimization.
problem Limited exploration in DDPG with deterministic policies.
method Model-based trajectory optimization for exploration in DDPG, using a learned deep dynamics model.
result Improved performance in continuous control tasks, especially with sparse rewards and images.
We propose a new objective, the counterfactual objective, unifying existing objectives for off-policy policy gradient algorithms in the continuing reinforcement learning (RL) setting. Compared to the commonly used excursion objective, which can be misleading about the performance of the target policy when deployed, our…
Policy-gradient method controls multiple non-cohesive targets.
problem Controlling multiple non-cohesive targets in a decentralized manner.
method Proximal Policy Optimization for target selection and driving.
result Effective control of non-cohesive targets without prior dynamics knowledge.
A deep learning strategy outperforms traditional methods in stocks portfolio management.
problem Optimizing stock portfolio performance using machine learning.
method Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient framework with neural networks.
result Compound annual return rate of 14.12% compared to 7 other strategies.
Genetic algorithms have been widely used in many practical optimization problems. Inspired by natural selection, operators, including mutation, crossover and selection, provide effective heuristics for search and black-box optimization. However, they have not been shown useful for deep reinforcement learning, possibly …
Recent analyses of certain gradient descent optimization methods have shown that performance can degrade in some settings - such as with stochasticity or implicit momentum. In deep reinforcement learning (Deep RL), such optimization methods are often used for training neural networks via the temporal difference error o…
Paper improves reinforcement learning efficiency with deterministic value gradients.
problem High sample complexity in model-free DDPG algorithms for continuous control tasks.
method Proposes DVG and DVPG algorithms with infinite horizon value gradients to improve sample efficiency.
result DVPG algorithm substantially outperforms state-of-the-art methods on continuous control benchmarks.
AES improves policy gradient performance by adaptively selecting experience.
problem High variance in gradient estimators from past trajectories.
method AES learns an adaptive sampling distribution to minimise gradient variance.
result AES leads to significantly improved performance in continuous control tasks.
Deep learning finds mathematical equations from data.
problem Discovering underlying mathematical expressions from datasets.
method Uses a recurrent neural network to search for mathematical expressions and optimizes using a risk-seeking policy gradient.
result Outperforms existing methods in recovering exact symbolic expressions.
New method improves deep policy gradient algorithms by learning relative state values.
problem High sample complexity and instability in policy gradient methods.
method Uses a new state-value function approximation based on residual variance.
result Empirical improvement across diverse continuous control tasks and algorithms.
A new Q-learning variant reduces underestimation bias in deep reinforcement learning.
problem Underestimation bias in deep reinforcement learning policies.
method Introducing a novel, parameter-free Deep Q-learning variant.
result Significantly outperforms existing approaches and improves state-of-the-art performance.
PROPEL learns interpretable programmatic policies using imitation and projection.
problem Learning interpretable programmatic policies in reinforcement learning.
method PROPEL is a meta-algorithm based on three insights: optimization in policy space, neural-program mixing, and imitation synthesis.
result PROPEL significantly outperforms state-of-the-art approaches in learning programmatic policies.
Meta-gradient RL learns to learn from experience.
problem Learning efficiency and adaptability in reinforcement learning.
method Meta-gradient descent to discover its own objective function.
result Meta-gradient RL adapts to learn more efficiently over time.
This paper proposes GProp, a deep reinforcement learning algorithm for continuous policies with compatible function approximation. The algorithm is based on two innovations. Firstly, we present a temporal-difference based method for learning the gradient of the value-function. Secondly, we present the deviator-actor-cr…
Deep RL learns 2-opt heuristics to improve TSP solutions.
problem Improving TSP solutions beyond initial heuristics.
method Deep reinforcement learning to learn 2-opt operations.
result Learned policies improve solutions faster than previous methods.
A reinforcement learning framework for Mars rover control using temporal logic.
problem Sparse rewards in continuous-state continuous-action MDPs with high-level temporal structures.
method Actor-critic, model-free, online RL framework with modular DDPG architecture.
result Success rate of synthesised policy in Mars rover experiment.
Experience replay (ER) is a fundamental component of off-policy deep reinforcement learning (RL). ER recalls experiences from past iterations to compute gradient estimates for the current policy, increasing data-efficiency. However, the accuracy of such updates may deteriorate when the policy diverges from past behavio…
Policy gradient methods are powerful reinforcement learning algorithms and have been demonstrated to solve many complex tasks. However, these methods are also data-inefficient, afflicted with high variance gradient estimates, and frequently get stuck in local optima. This work addresses these weaknesses by combining re…
The paper investigates the effects of invalid action masking in policy gradient algorithms.
problem Invalid actions in policy gradient algorithms can lead to suboptimal performance.
method The paper provides theoretical justification and empirical demonstrations of the importance of invalid action masking.
result Invalid action masking is crucial as the number of invalid actions increases.
New method reduces state distribution mismatch in off-policy RL.
problem State distribution mismatch in off-policy RL algorithms.
method Develops a novel constrained off-policy gradient objective to minimize state distribution shift.
result Minimizing state distribution shift improves performance in off-policy RL algorithms.
Deep actor-critic learning optimizes power control in mobile networks.
problem Optimizing power control in large-scale wireless mobile networks.
method Multi-agent deep reinforcement learning with deep deterministic policy gradient.
result The algorithm maximizes a global utility function in a distributed manner.
NPMD uses CNNs to optimize policies on low-dimensional manifolds, reducing sample complexity.
problem Explaining the effectiveness of deep policy gradient methods in high-dimensional RL.
method Neural policy mirror descent (NPMD) with CNNs, considering state spaces as low-dimensional manifolds.
result NPMD finds ε-optimal policies with O(ε^(-d/α-2)) samples, leveraging low-dimensional structure.
Algorithm optimizes system design and control for better rewards.
problem Optimizing system design and control for maximum rewards.
method Deep reinforcement learning combining policy gradient and model-based optimization.
result DEPS algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art methods in various environments.
Proposes a new policy gradient algorithm to improve reinforcement learning efficiency and stability.
problem Inefficiency and instability of DDPG in practical applications, and difficulty in controlling Q estimation bias and variance.
method Introduces a Regularly Updated Deterministic (RUD) policy gradient algorithm.
result The RUD algorithm makes better use of new data and has lower Q value variance, leading to improved performance.
Learning goal-oriented dialogues by means of deep reinforcement learning has recently become a popular research topic. However, commonly used policy-based dialogue agents often end up focusing on simple utterances and suboptimal policies. To mitigate this problem, we propose a class of novel temperature-based extension…
In this paper, we implement three state-of-art continuous reinforcement learning algorithms, Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG), Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) and Policy Gradient (PG)in portfolio management. All of them are widely-used in game playing and robot control. What's more, PPO has appealing theore…
Paper uses deep reinforcement learning for cryptocurrency market making.
problem Stochastic inventory control challenges faced by market makers.
method Two policy gradient-based algorithms interact with an environment representing limit order book data and order flow statistics. A forward-feed neural network approximates the policy function, and two reward functions are compared.
result Demonstrates deep reinforcement learning's effectiveness in solving market making challenges.
Develops a new reinforcement learning framework for complex control problems.
problem Continuous-time extended mean field control with deterministic policies.
method Model-free sensitivity formula, deterministic policy gradient, local value and advantage-rate representations.
result Demonstrates efficiency, stability, and robustness in solving complex control problems.
New RL algorithm tackles complex discrete action spaces.
problem Challenges in applying on-policy RL in high-dimensional discrete action spaces.
method Action-value critic, correlated actions, gradient sparsification.
result Empirically outperforms related on-policy algorithms.
We study a reinforcement learning setting, where the state transition function is a convex combination of a stochastic continuous function and a deterministic function. Such a setting generalizes the widely-studied stochastic state transition setting, namely the setting of deterministic policy gradient (DPG). We firstl…
Representing a dialog policy as a recurrent neural network (RNN) is attractive because it handles partial observability, infers a latent representation of state, and can be optimized with supervised learning (SL) or reinforcement learning (RL). For RL, a policy gradient approach is natural, but is sample inefficient. I…
New framework analyzes effectiveness of neural network-based combinatorial problem solvers.
problem Analyzing neural network-based methods for combinatorial optimization problems.
method Introducing a theoretical framework to assess the effectiveness of solution-samplers using policy-gradient methods.
result Positive theoretical answer to the existence of expressive, tractable, and benign optimization landscapes for combinatorial problems.
Deep reinforcement learning boosts commodities trading performance.
problem Improving algorithmic trading performance in commodities markets.
method Formulated as a stochastic dynamical system, employed actor-based and actor-critic-based policy gradient algorithms with CNN and LSTM function approximators.
result DRL models increase Sharpe ratio by 83% compared to buy-and-hold.