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We show that several major algorithms of reinforcement learning (RL) fit into the framework of categorical cybernetics, that is to say, parametrised bidirectional processes. We build on our previous work in which we show that value…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-09-26 Jules Hedges , Riu Rodríguez Sakamoto

Reinforcement Learning (RL) is a general framework concerned with an agent that seeks to maximize rewards in an environment. The learning typically happens through trial and error using explorative methods, such as epsilon-greedy. There are…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-10-06 Per-Arne Andersen , Morten Goodwin , Ole-Christoffer Granmo

Residual reinforcement learning (RL) has been proposed as a way to solve challenging robotic tasks by adapting control actions from a conventional feedback controller to maximize a reward signal. We extend the residual formulation to learn…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-06-16 Minttu Alakuijala , Gabriel Dulac-Arnold , Julien Mairal , Jean Ponce , Cordelia Schmid

This paper focuses on reinforcement learning (RL) with limited prior knowledge. In the domain of swarm robotics for instance, the expert can hardly design a reward function or demonstrate the target behavior, forbidding the use of both…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2012-08-07 Riad Akrour , Marc Schoenauer , Michèle Sebag

Reinforcement learning (RL) is a branch of machine learning which is employed to solve various sequential decision making problems without proper supervision. Due to the recent advancement of deep learning, the newly proposed Deep-RL…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2019-04-17 Dhruv Ramani

Many traditional algorithms for solving combinatorial optimization problems involve using hand-crafted heuristics that sequentially construct a solution. Such heuristics are designed by domain experts and may often be suboptimal due to the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-12-25 Nina Mazyavkina , Sergey Sviridov , Sergei Ivanov , Evgeny Burnaev

Demonstration-guided reinforcement learning (RL) is a promising approach for learning complex behaviors by leveraging both reward feedback and a set of target task demonstrations. Prior approaches for demonstration-guided RL treat every new…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-07-22 Karl Pertsch , Youngwoon Lee , Yue Wu , Joseph J. Lim

Designing effective reward functions is crucial to training reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms. However, this design is non-trivial, even for domain experts, due to the subjective nature of certain tasks that are hard to quantify…

Neural and Evolutionary Computing · Computer Science 2025-05-26 Rishi Hazra , Alkis Sygkounas , Andreas Persson , Amy Loutfi , Pedro Zuidberg Dos Martires

Reinforcement learning (RL) in autonomous driving employs a trial-and-error mechanism, enhancing robustness in unpredictable environments. However, crafting effective reward functions remains challenging, as conventional approaches rely…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-06-02 Yongming Chen , Miner Chen , Liewen Liao , Mingyang Jiang , Xiang Zuo , Hengrui Zhang , Yuchen Xi , Songan Zhang

There has been significant progress in deep reinforcement learning (RL) in recent years. Nevertheless, finding suitable hyperparameter configurations and reward functions remains challenging even for experts, and performance heavily relies…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-10-10 Julian Dierkes , Emma Cramer , Holger H. Hoos , Sebastian Trimpe

Mastering robotic manipulation skills through reinforcement learning (RL) typically requires the design of shaped reward functions. Recent developments in this area have demonstrated that using sparse rewards, i.e. rewarding the agent only…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-11-12 Ozsel Kilinc , Giovanni Montana

Reward models have been increasingly critical for improving the reasoning capability of LLMs. Existing research has shown that a well-trained reward model can substantially improve model performances at inference time via search. However,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-11-28 Jiaxuan Gao , Shusheng Xu , Wenjie Ye , Weilin Liu , Chuyi He , Wei Fu , Zhiyu Mei , Guangju Wang , Yi Wu

Learning a reward function from human preferences is challenging as it typically requires having a high-fidelity simulator or using expensive and potentially unsafe actual physical rollouts in the environment. However, in many tasks the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-01-05 Daniel Shin , Anca D. Dragan , Daniel S. Brown

Offline Reinforcement Learning (ORL) offers a robust solution to training agents in applications where interactions with the environment must be strictly limited due to cost, safety, or lack of accurate simulation environments. Despite its…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-07-16 Carlo Romeo , Andrew D. Bagdanov

Reinforcement learning (RL) depends critically on the choice of reward functions used to capture the de- sired behavior and constraints of a robot. Usually, these are handcrafted by a expert designer and represent heuristics for relatively…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2017-03-03 Xiao Li , Cristian-Ioan Vasile , Calin Belta

Reward engineering is an important aspect of reinforcement learning. Whether or not the user's intentions can be correctly encapsulated in the reward function can significantly impact the learning outcome. Current methods rely on manually…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2017-09-28 Xiao Li , Yao Ma , Calin Belta

Inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) is an imitation learning approach to learning reward functions from expert demonstrations. Its use avoids the difficult and tedious procedure of manual reward specification while retaining the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-03-25 Daulet Baimukashev , Gokhan Alcan , Ville Kyrki

Reinforcement learning (RL) has emerged as a powerful method for improving the reasoning abilities of large language models (LLMs). Outcome-based RL, which rewards policies solely for the correctness of the final answer, yields substantial…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-09-09 Yuda Song , Julia Kempe , Remi Munos

The challenge of designing effective reward functions in reinforcement learning (RL) represents a significant bottleneck, often requiring extensive human expertise and being time-consuming. Previous work and recent advancements in large…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-11-25 Franklin Cardenoso , Wouter Caarls

A key challenge in reinforcement learning (RL) is reward (mis)specification, whereby imprecisely defined reward functions can result in unintended, possibly harmful, behaviours. Indeed, reward functions in RL are typically treated as…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-10-22 Daniel Donnelly , Angelo Ferrando , Francesco Belardinelli