Learn With Imagination: Safe Set Guided State-wise Constrained Policy Optimization

Authors: Feihan Li, Yifan Sun, Weiye Zhao, Rui Chen, Tianhao Wei, Changliu Liu
Primary area: reinforcement learning
Keywords: Deep Reinforcement Learning, Safe Control, Safety Index, Zero Training Violations, Imaginary Cost

Abstract:
Deep reinforcement learning (RL) excels in various control tasks, yet the absence of safety guarantees hampers its real-world applicability. In particular, explorations during learning usually results in safety violations, while the RL agent learns from those mistakes. On the other hand, safe control techniques ensure persistent safety satisfaction but demand strong priors on system dynamics, which is usually hard to obtain in practice. To address these problems, we present Safe Set Guided State-wise Constrained Policy Optimization (S-3PO), a pioneering algorithm generating state-wise safe optimal policies with zero training violations, i.e., learning without mistakes. S-3PO first employs a safety-oriented monitor with black-box dynamics to ensure safe exploration. It then enforces a unique cost for the RL agent to converge to optimal behaviors within safety constraints.  S-3PO outperforms existing methods in high-dimensional robotics tasks, managing state-wise constraints with zero training violation. This innovation marks a significant stride towards real-world safe RL deployment.

Decision: desk reject

Reviews and discussion:

Metareview: