arXiv:2505.08735cs.LG2025-05ICML被引 16

用偏好比较提升组合优化的强化学习效率,解决奖励稀疏问题。

Preference Optimization for Combinatorial Optimization Problems

  • 将奖励信号转为解之间的偏好比较,引导模型直接学习优劣判断。
  • 在TSP、CVRP、FFSP上收敛更快,解的质量显著优于现有RL方法。
  • 结合局部搜索生成高质量偏好对,帮助跳出局部最优,适合优化研究者。

强化学习已成为神经组合优化的强大工具,使模型能在无需专家知识的情况下学习求解复杂问题的启发式策略。尽管进展显著,现有强化学习方法仍面临奖励信号衰减和在巨大组合动作空间中探索效率低下的问题,导致训练效率不足。本文提出偏好优化,通过统计比较建模将定量奖励信号转化为定性偏好信号,强调采样解之间的优劣关系。方法上,通过对奖励函数进行策略重参数化,并引入偏好模型,构建一个带熵正则化的强化学习目标,使策略直接对齐偏好,避免难以计算的问题。此外,我们将局部搜索技术融入微调阶段而非后处理,生成高质量的偏好对,帮助策略摆脱局部最优。在旅行商问题(TSP)、容量受限车辆路径问题(CVRP)和柔性流水车间问题(FFSP)等各类基准测试中,实验结果表明,该方法显著优于现有强化学习算法,在收敛效率和解质量方面均表现更优。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Reinforcement Learning (RL) has emerged as a powerful tool for neural combinatorial optimization, enabling models to learn heuristics that solve complex problems without requiring expert knowledge. Despite significant progress, existing RL approaches face challenges such as diminishing reward signals and inefficient exploration in vast combinatorial action spaces, leading to inefficiency. In this paper, we propose Preference Optimization, a novel method that transforms quantitative reward signals into qualitative preference signals via statistical comparison modeling, emphasizing the superiority among sampled solutions. Methodologically, by reparameterizing the reward function in terms of policy and utilizing preference models, we formulate an entropy-regularized RL objective that aligns the policy directly with preferences while avoiding intractable computations. Furthermore, we integrate local search techniques into the fine-tuning rather than post-processing to generate high-quality preference pairs, helping the policy escape local optima. Empirical results on various benchmarks, such as the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) and the Flexible Flow Shop Problem (FFSP), demonstrate that our method significantly outperforms existing RL algorithms, achieving superior convergence efficiency and solution quality.

组合优化强化学习偏好学习

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