arXiv:2509.09135cs.LGcs.MA2025-09中稿 · ICLR被引 3

用微分方程方法解决多智能体强化学习中的高频交互难题。

Continuous-Time Value Iteration for Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

  • 用物理信息神经网络逼近连续时间价值函数,突破维度灾难
  • 引入值梯度迭代模块,提升梯度精度和策略训练稳定性
  • 在多智能体粒子和多机器人环境中表现优于现有方法

现有强化学习方法在高频率或非规则时间间隔交互的复杂动态系统中表现不佳。连续时间强化学习(CTRL)通过将离散时间贝尔曼递推替换为基于黏性解的微分价值函数,提供了新思路。然而,其应用仍主要局限于单智能体场景,受限于两大挑战:(i) HJB方程的传统求解方法受维度灾难困扰;(ii) 多智能体环境下难以准确近似集中式价值函数,导致策略训练不稳定。本文提出一种连续时间多智能体强化学习(CT-MARL)框架,采用物理信息神经网络(PINNs)大规模逼近基于HJB的价值函数。为确保价值函数与其微分结构一致,引入值梯度迭代(VGI)模块,沿轨迹迭代优化值梯度,提升梯度保真度,从而获得更精确的价值估计与更强的策略学习能力。我们在连续时间版本的标准基准上评估该方法,包括多智能体粒子环境(MPE)和多智能体MuJoCo。结果表明,本方法持续优于现有连续时间强化学习基线,并可扩展至复杂多智能体动力学系统。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Existing reinforcement learning (RL) methods struggle with complex dynamical systems that demand interactions at high frequencies or irregular time intervals. Continuous-time RL (CTRL) has emerged as a promising alternative by replacing discrete-time Bellman recursion with differential value functions defined as viscosity solutions of the Hamilton--Jacobi--Bellman (HJB) equation. While CTRL has shown promise, its applications have been largely limited to the single-agent domain. This limitation stems from two key challenges: (i) conventional solution methods for HJB equations suffer from the curse of dimensionality (CoD), making them intractable in high-dimensional systems; and (ii) even with HJB-based learning approaches, accurately approximating centralized value functions in multi-agent settings remains difficult, which in turn destabilizes policy training. In this paper, we propose a CT-MARL framework that uses physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) to approximate HJB-based value functions at scale. To ensure the value is consistent with its differential structure, we align value learning with value-gradient learning by introducing a Value Gradient Iteration (VGI) module that iteratively refines value gradients along trajectories. This improves gradient fidelity, in turn yielding more accurate values and stronger policy learning. We evaluate our method using continuous-time variants of standard benchmarks, including multi-agent particle environment (MPE) and multi-agent MuJoCo. Our results demonstrate that our approach consistently outperforms existing continuous-time RL baselines and scales to complex multi-agent dynamics.

多智能体连续时间强化学习神经网络

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