LazyAct: Lazy actor with dynamic state skip based on constrained MDP.

Deep reinforcement learning has achieved significant success in complex decision-making tasks. However, the high computational cost of policies based on deep neural networks restricts their practical application. Specifically, each decision made by an agent requires a complete neural network computa...

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Main Authors: Hongjie Zhang, Zhenyu Chen, Hourui Deng, Chaosheng Feng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318778
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author Hongjie Zhang
Zhenyu Chen
Hourui Deng
Chaosheng Feng
author_facet Hongjie Zhang
Zhenyu Chen
Hourui Deng
Chaosheng Feng
author_sort Hongjie Zhang
collection DOAJ
description Deep reinforcement learning has achieved significant success in complex decision-making tasks. However, the high computational cost of policies based on deep neural networks restricts their practical application. Specifically, each decision made by an agent requires a complete neural network computation, leading to a linear increase in computational cost with the number of interactions and agents. Inspired by human decision-making patterns, which involve reasoning only on critical states in continuous decision-making tasks without considering all states, we introduce the LazyAct algorithm. This algorithm significantly reduces the number of inferences while preserving the quality of the policy. Firstly, we incorporate a state skipping branch into the actor network to bypass states with minimal impact. Subsequently, we establish optimization objectives for single-agent and multi-agents inference, incorporating cost constraints based on the IMPALA and MAPPO frameworks, respectively. Finally, we utilize pre-training and fine-tuning techniques to train the policy network. Extensive experimental results indicate that LazyAct reduces the number of inferences by approximately 80% and 40% in single-agent and multi-agents scenarios, respectively, while sustaining comparable policy performance. The inferences reduction significantly decreases the time and FLOPs required by the LazyAct algorithm to complete tasks. Code is available here https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/wyoqo6q9gyt86zobfgbvx/h?\rlkey=0moyxsnoiisfs9y4h89hsou1l&dl=0.
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institution Kabale University
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language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
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spelling doaj-art-0a9e64275deb4572a4a820e8fe914cf32025-02-12T05:30:53ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01202e031877810.1371/journal.pone.0318778LazyAct: Lazy actor with dynamic state skip based on constrained MDP.Hongjie ZhangZhenyu ChenHourui DengChaosheng FengDeep reinforcement learning has achieved significant success in complex decision-making tasks. However, the high computational cost of policies based on deep neural networks restricts their practical application. Specifically, each decision made by an agent requires a complete neural network computation, leading to a linear increase in computational cost with the number of interactions and agents. Inspired by human decision-making patterns, which involve reasoning only on critical states in continuous decision-making tasks without considering all states, we introduce the LazyAct algorithm. This algorithm significantly reduces the number of inferences while preserving the quality of the policy. Firstly, we incorporate a state skipping branch into the actor network to bypass states with minimal impact. Subsequently, we establish optimization objectives for single-agent and multi-agents inference, incorporating cost constraints based on the IMPALA and MAPPO frameworks, respectively. Finally, we utilize pre-training and fine-tuning techniques to train the policy network. Extensive experimental results indicate that LazyAct reduces the number of inferences by approximately 80% and 40% in single-agent and multi-agents scenarios, respectively, while sustaining comparable policy performance. The inferences reduction significantly decreases the time and FLOPs required by the LazyAct algorithm to complete tasks. Code is available here https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/wyoqo6q9gyt86zobfgbvx/h?\rlkey=0moyxsnoiisfs9y4h89hsou1l&dl=0.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318778
spellingShingle Hongjie Zhang
Zhenyu Chen
Hourui Deng
Chaosheng Feng
LazyAct: Lazy actor with dynamic state skip based on constrained MDP.
PLoS ONE
title LazyAct: Lazy actor with dynamic state skip based on constrained MDP.
title_full LazyAct: Lazy actor with dynamic state skip based on constrained MDP.
title_fullStr LazyAct: Lazy actor with dynamic state skip based on constrained MDP.
title_full_unstemmed LazyAct: Lazy actor with dynamic state skip based on constrained MDP.
title_short LazyAct: Lazy actor with dynamic state skip based on constrained MDP.
title_sort lazyact lazy actor with dynamic state skip based on constrained mdp
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318778
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AT zhenyuchen lazyactlazyactorwithdynamicstateskipbasedonconstrainedmdp
AT houruideng lazyactlazyactorwithdynamicstateskipbasedonconstrainedmdp
AT chaoshengfeng lazyactlazyactorwithdynamicstateskipbasedonconstrainedmdp