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Unit-3 Unit-3 RL Problems, Prediction and Control P 241111 181426

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197 views15 pages

Unit-3 Unit-3 RL Problems, Prediction and Control P 241111 181426

Uploaded by

Gopala Karthik
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Unit-3

Syllabus-The Reinforcement Learning problem,prediction and control problems, Model-based


algorithm, MonteCarlo methods for predection ,and Online implementation of MonteCarlopolicy
evaluation

The Reinforcement Learning problem


Reinforcement learning (RL) is a type of machine learning where an agent learns to make
decisions by performing actions in an environment to maximize cumulative reward.
Reinforcement learning can be applied to various domains such as robotics, game playing,
autonomous driving, and many more, where an agent can learn optimal behavior through
interaction with the environment. The reinforcement learning problem consists of following
components

Components:

1. Agent: The learner or decision-maker that interacts with the environment.


2. Environment: Everything that the agent interacts with. It provides feedback in the form
of rewards and the next state.
3. State (s): A representation of the current situation of the agent within the environment.
4. Action (a): The choices available to the agent that can change the state.
5. Reward (r): A scalar feedback signal received after performing an action. It indicates
how good or bad the action was in that state.
6. Policy (π): A strategy used by the agent to decide which actions to take based on the
current state. It can be deterministic or stochastic.
7. Value Function (V): A function that estimates the expected cumulative reward starting
from a state and following a particular policy.
8. Q-Value (Action-Value Function, Q): A function that estimates the expected cumulative
reward starting from a state, taking an action, and thereafter following a particular policy.

Main concepts are

1. Markov Decision Process (MDP): The mathematical framework used to define the RL
problem. An MDP is defined by:
2. Exploration vs. Exploitation: The dilemma faced by the agent in choosing between
exploring new actions to discover their effects and exploiting known actions that yield high
rewards.

3. Optimal Policy: The policy that yields the highest cumulative reward over time. Finding
this policy is the main goal of reinforcement learning.

Learning Approaches:

1. Value-Based Methods: Focus on estimating the value functions (e.g., Q-learning,


SARSA).
2. Policy-Based Methods: Focus on directly learning the policy (e.g., REINFORCE,
Proximal Policy Optimization).
3. Actor-Critic Methods: Combine value-based and policy-based methods (e.g., A3C,
DDPG).

Bellman Equations:

prediction and control problems,


In reinforcement learning, prediction and control problems are two fundamental types of
problems that an agent seeks to solve:

Prediction Problems

Prediction problems focus on estimating the value functions for a given policy. This involves
predicting the expected cumulative reward that an agent will receive starting from a particular
state (or state-action pair) and following a specific policy. prediction problems are about
evaluating the expected rewards for a given policy, while control problems are about finding the
policy that maximizes the expected rewards. Both types of problems are central to reinforcement
learning and often work in tandem to enable agents to learn optimal behaviors.
Control Problems
Methods for finding the optimal policy include:

Model-Based Algorithms
Model-based algorithms in reinforcement learning use a model of the environment to make
predictions and guide the agent's decision-making process. These models can predict the next
state and the expected reward given the current state and action. This approach contrasts with
model-free algorithms, which rely solely on observed experiences without any explicit model
of the environment.

Components of Model-Based Algorithms

Steps involved in Model-Based Algorithms are


Common Model-Based Algorithms
Example: Dyna-Q Algorithm

The Dyna-Q algorithm is a simple yet powerful example of a model-based approach.

Advantages of Model-Based Algorithms

 Sample Efficiency: By simulating experiences, model-based algorithms can often


learn effective policies with fewer real interactions with the environment.
 Planning Capabilities: They can foresee long-term consequences of actions and
make more informed decisions.
 Adaptability: With an accurate model, they can quickly adapt to changes in the
environment.
Challenges in Model-Based Algorithms

 Model Accuracy: Building an accurate model of the environment can be challenging,


especially in complex or high-dimensional spaces.
 Computational Complexity: Planning can be computationally intensive, especially
in large state and action spaces.
 Exploration vs. Exploitation: Balancing exploration of the environment to improve
the model and exploitation of the current model to maximize rewards is a non-trivial
task.

Model-based algorithms offer a powerful framework for solving reinforcement learning


problems by leveraging a model of the environment to improve learning efficiency and
decision-making quality.

MonteCarlo methods for predection

Monte Carlo methods for prediction in reinforcement learning involve using sample-based
techniques to estimate value functions based on the observed returns from sampled episodes.
These methods are particularly useful when dealing with environments where it is impractical
to compute exact values analytically. Monte Carlo methods are typically used in an episodic
setting where the agent interacts with the environment in episodes, and each episode reaches
a terminal state. it involves following
There are several methods within the category of Monte Carlo methods for prediction in
reinforcement learning. These methods vary primarily in how they sample and process
experiences to estimate value functions. Summary of the Monte Carlo methods used for
prediction
Online implementation of MonteCarlopolicy evaluation

Online Monte Carlo policy evaluation, also known as incremental Monte Carlo, is a method
to update value estimates incrementally as new data is received, rather than waiting for the
entire episode to finish. This approach reduces memory requirements and allows for
immediate updates, making it suitable for large or continuous state spaces.
Example

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