Peter Stone's Selected Publications

Classified by TopicClassified by Publication TypeSorted by DateSorted by First Author Last NameClassified by Funding Source


Event Tables for Efficient Experience Replay

Event Tables for Efficient Experience Replay.
Varun Kompella, Thomas Walsh, Samuel Barrett, Peter Wurman, and Peter Stone.
Transactions on Machine Learning Research (TMLR), 2023.

Download

[PDF]6.8MB  

Abstract

Experience replay (ER) is a crucial component of many deep reinforcement learning (RL) systems. However, uniform sampling from an ER buffer can lead to slow convergence and unstable asymptotic behaviors. This paper introduces Stratified Sampling from Event Tables (SSET), which partitions an ER buffer into Event Tables, each capturing important subsequences of optimal behavior. We prove a theoretical advantage over the traditional monolithic buffer approach and combine SSET with an existing prioritized sampling strategy to further improve learning speed and stability. Empirical results in challenging MiniGrid domains, benchmark RL environments, and a high-fidelity car racing simulator demonstrate the advantages and versatility of SSET over existing ER buffer sampling approaches.

BibTeX Entry

@article{TMLR23,
  author="Varun Kompella and Thomas Walsh and Samuel Barrett and Peter Wurman and Peter Stone",
  title="Event Tables for Efficient Experience Replay",
  journal="Transactions on Machine Learning Research (TMLR)",
  year="2023",
  abstract={
            Experience replay (ER) is a crucial component of many deep
            reinforcement learning (RL) systems. However, uniform
            sampling from an ER buffer can lead to slow convergence
            and unstable asymptotic behaviors. This paper introduces
            Stratified Sampling from Event Tables (SSET), which
            partitions an ER buffer into Event Tables, each capturing
            important subsequences of optimal behavior. We prove a
            theoretical advantage over the traditional monolithic
            buffer approach and combine SSET with an existing
            prioritized sampling strategy to further improve learning
            speed and stability. Empirical results in challenging
            MiniGrid domains, benchmark RL environments, and a
            high-fidelity car racing simulator demonstrate the
            advantages and versatility of SSET over existing ER buffer
            sampling approaches.
	    },
}

Generated by bib2html.pl (written by Patrick Riley ) on Sun Nov 24, 2024 20:24:49