arXiv:2606.25012cs.LG2026-06

提出新算法,让多目标强化学习在无混合时间信息下也能高效收敛且满足约束。

Bias-Controlled Primal-Dual Natural Actor-Critic: Optimal Rates for Constrained Multi-Objective Average-Reward RL

  • 基于多层蒙特卡洛的双延迟自然策略梯度方法,控制目标与约束评估中的偏差。
  • 在平均奖励设置下实现最优 $ \tilde{O}(1/\sqrt{T}) $ 收敛率与约束违反率。
  • 首个无需混合时间知识、支持多目标与约束的最优收敛算法,适合复杂安全决策场景。

无限时域平均奖励强化学习中,常需优化多个冲突目标并满足多个安全约束。传统方法采用凹函数标量化:最大化效用函数 $ f(J^π_{r_1}, \ldots, J^π_{r_M}) $,同时满足标量化约束 $ g(J^π_{c_1}, \ldots, J^π_{c_N}) \ge 0 $,其中 $J^π_{r_m}$ 和 $J^π_{c_n}$ 分别表示策略 $π$ 下的平均奖励与代价。由于 $f$ 与 $g$ 的非线性,策略梯度与演员-评论家方法会产生偏差,因梯度依赖于 $J^π$ 的噪声估计,且 $\mathbb{E}[\partial f(J^π)] \neq \partial f(\mathbb{E}[J^π])$,该偏差在原问题与对偶更新中传播。本文提出一种基于多层蒙特卡洛(MLMC)的原-对偶自然演员-评论家算法,适用于平均奖励马尔可夫决策过程,在不依赖混合时间信息的前提下,有效控制标量化目标、约束评估及演员-评论家估计中的偏差。理论证明该算法实现最优全局收敛率与约束违反率 $\tilde{O}(1/\sqrt{T})$。据我们所知,这是首个在平均奖励设定下,无论有无标量化,均实现最优收敛率且无需混合时间信息的结果。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Many reinforcement learning (RL) problems in the infinite-horizon average-reward setting require optimizing multiple conflicting objectives while satisfying multiple safety constraints. A common approach is concave scalarization, where the agent maximizes a utility $ f(J^π_{r_1}, \ldots, J^π_{r_M}) $ subject to a scalarized constraint $ g(J^π_{c_1}, \ldots, J^π_{c_N}) \ge 0 $, where $J^π_{r_m}$ and $J^π_{c_n}$ denote the average-reward and cost under policy $π$. However, the nonlinearity of $f$ and $g$ introduces bias in policy-gradient and actor-critic methods, since gradients must be evaluated using noisy estimates of $J^π,$ and $ \mathbb{E}[\partial f(J^π)] \neq \partial f(\mathbb{E}[J^π]),$ and this bias propagates through both primal and dual updates. We propose an MLMC-based primal-dual Natural Actor-Critic algorithm for average-reward MDPs that controls bias in scalarized objectives, constraint evaluation, and actor-critic estimation without requiring mixing-time knowledge. We show that the algorithm achieves optimal global convergence and constraint-violation rates of $ \tilde{O}(1/\sqrt{T}) $. To our knowledge, this is the first result establishing optimal convergence for concave scalarized multi-objective RL in the average-reward setting, both with and without constraints, and the first to do so without mixing-time information even in the absence of scalarization.

强化学习多目标约束优化自然策略

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