pearl-rl 0.1.2
A reinforcement learning model selection library using explainability
License: MIT
Requires Python: >=3.8
Keywords: reinforcement-learning, machine-learning, explainability, ai, rl, model-selection

# Pearl RL

<div align="center">
  <img src="https://i.ibb.co/CpXfbd7c/logo.png" alt="Pearl Logo" width="200"/>
  <br>
  <em>A reinforcement learning model selection library using explainability</em>
</div>

## 📖 Overview

Pearl RL is a cutting-edge library that revolutionizes reinforcement learning evaluation by using explainability techniques to compare agents based on their internal decision-making logic rather than just reward signals. This approach addresses a critical limitation in traditional RL evaluation where two agents may receive similar rewards but behave fundamentally differently.

## 🎯 Motivation

Traditional reinforcement learning evaluation relies heavily on scalar reward signals, which may not always reflect the true quality, stability, or safety of learned policies. Pearl RL addresses this by:

- **Beyond Rewards**: Evaluating agents based on their internal decision-making processes
- **Explainability-Driven**: Using interpretability techniques as core evaluation metrics
- **Multi-Method Approach**: Integrating SHAP, LIME, LMUT, stability analysis, and visual saliency
- **Practical Applications**: Designed for critical systems where explainability and reliability matter

## 🚀 Key Features

- **Multiple Explainability Methods**: SHAP, LIME, LMUT, Stability Analysis, Visual Saliency
- **Agent Comparison Framework**: Compare agents with similar rewards but different behaviors
- **Environment Support**: Atari games, Lunar Lander, and custom environments
- **Flexible Architecture**: Easy integration with existing RL agents and environments
- **Visualization Tools**: Tree structures, heatmaps, and decision explanations
- **Production Ready**: Designed for real-world applications in autonomous systems

## 📦 Installation

```bash
pip install pearl-rl
```

## 🏗️ Architecture

Pearl RL is built around four core components:

1. **Agents**: RL agents with explainable decision-making
2. **Environments**: Wrapped environments for Pearl compatibility
3. **Explainability Methods**: Multiple techniques for agent evaluation
4. **Evaluation Framework**: Tools for comparing and selecting agents

## 🎮 Quick Start

### Basic Usage

```python
from pearl import Pearl
from pearl.agents import SimpleDQN
from pearl.enviroments import GymRLEnv
from pearl.methods import ShapExplainability, LimeExplainability

# Create environment
env = GymRLEnv("LunarLander-v2")

# Create agents
agent_1 = SimpleDQN(env.observation_space, env.action_space)
agent_2 = SimpleDQN(env.observation_space, env.action_space)

# Initialize explainability methods
shap_explainer = ShapExplainability(device, mask)
lime_explainer = LimeExplainability(device, mask)

# Create Pearl instance
pearl = Pearl([agent_1, agent_2], env)

# Evaluate agents using explainability
scores = pearl.evaluate_with_explainability([shap_explainer, lime_explainer])
```

### Advanced Example: Atari Game Evaluation

```python
import torch
import torch.nn as nn
from pearl.agents.TourchDQN import TorchDQN
from pearl.enviroments.GymRLEnv import GymRLEnv
from pearl.methods import ShapExplainability, LimeExplainability, LMUTExplainability
from pearl.provided.AssaultEnv import AssaultEnvShapMask

# Define DQN architecture
class DQN(nn.Module):
    def __init__(self, n_actions: int):
        super().__init__()
        self.net = nn.Sequential(
            nn.Conv2d(4, 32, kernel_size=8, stride=4), nn.ReLU(),
            nn.Conv2d(32, 64, kernel_size=4, stride=2), nn.ReLU(),
            nn.Conv2d(64, 64, kernel_size=3, stride=1), nn.ReLU(),
            nn.Flatten(),
            nn.Linear(7 * 7 * 64, 512), nn.ReLU(),
            nn.Linear(512, n_actions)
        )

    def forward(self, x: torch.Tensor) -> torch.Tensor:
        return self.net(x)

# Setup
device = torch.device("cuda" if torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu")
mask = AssaultEnvShapMask()

# Initialize explainers
shap_explainer = ShapExplainability(device, mask)
lime_explainer = LimeExplainability(device, mask)
lmut_explainer = LMUTExplainability(device, mask)

# Environment setup
env = GymRLEnv(
    env_name='ALE/Assault-v5',
    stack_size=4,
    frame_skip=4,
    render_mode='rgb_array'
)

n_actions = env.action_space.n

# Load trained agents
policy_net_good = DQN(n_actions)
agent_good = TorchDQN('models/dqn_assault_5m.pth', policy_net_good, device)

policy_net_bad = DQN(n_actions)
agent_bad = TorchDQN('models/dqn_assault_1k.pth', policy_net_bad, device)

agents = [agent_good, agent_bad]

# Prepare explainers
env.reset()
shap_explainer.set(env)
shap_explainer.prepare(agents)

lime_explainer.set(env)
lime_explainer.prepare(agents)

lmut_explainer.set(env)
lmut_explainer.prepare(agents)
lmut_explainer.collect_training_data(10000)
lmut_explainer.fit_models()

# Evaluation loop
scores_shap = [0, 0]
scores_lime = [0, 0]
scores_lmut = [0, 0]

for i in range(100):
    obs = env.get_observations()
    
    # Get explainability scores
    new_scores_shap = shap_explainer.value(obs)
    new_scores_lime = lime_explainer.value(obs)
    new_scores_lmut = lmut_explainer.value(obs)
    
    # Update cumulative scores
    scores_shap = [s + ns for s, ns in zip(scores_shap, new_scores_shap)]
    scores_lime = [s + ns for s, ns in zip(scores_lime, new_scores_lime)]
    scores_lmut = [s + ns for s, ns in zip(scores_lmut, new_scores_lmut)]
    
    # Select best agent based on explainability
    sum_scores = np.array(scores_shap) + np.array(scores_lime)
    best_agent = np.argmax(sum_scores)
    agent = agents[best_agent]
    
    # Take action
    action = agent.predict(obs)
    _, _, terminated, truncated, _ = env.step(action)
    
    if terminated:
        break

print(f"SHAP Scores: Good={scores_shap[0]:.2f}, Bad={scores_shap[1]:.2f}")
print(f"LIME Scores: Good={scores_lime[0]:.2f}, Bad={scores_lime[1]:.2f}")
print(f"LMUT Scores: Good={scores_lmut[0]:.2f}, Bad={scores_lmut[1]:.2f}")
```

### Lunar Lander Example

```python
import gymnasium as gym
import torch.nn as nn
from pearl.agents.TorchPolicy import TorchPolicyAgent
from pearl.methods import TabularLimeExplainability, LMUTExplainability
from pearl.provided.LunarLander import LunarLanderTabularMask

# Define REINFORCE network
class REINFORCE_Net(nn.Module):
    def __init__(self, input_dim: int, n_actions: int):
        super().__init__()
        self.fc1 = nn.Linear(input_dim, 256)
        self.fc2 = nn.Linear(256, 256)
        self.pi = nn.Linear(256, n_actions)

    def forward(self, x):
        x = torch.relu(self.fc1(x))
        x = torch.relu(self.fc2(x))
        return self.pi(x)

# Setup
device = torch.device("cuda" if torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu")
env = gym.make("LunarLander-v3")
n_actions = env.action_space.n
input_dim = env.observation_space.shape[0]

# Load agents
agent_good = TorchPolicyAgent('models/lunar_lander_reinforce_500.pth', 
                             REINFORCE_Net(input_dim, n_actions), device)
agent_bad = TorchPolicyAgent('models/lunar_lander_reinforce_10.pth', 
                            REINFORCE_Net(input_dim, n_actions), device)
agents = [agent_good, agent_bad]

# Prepare explainers
training_data = np.array([env.reset()[0] for _ in range(500)])
feature_names = ["x_pos", "y_pos", "x_vel", "y_vel", "angle", "angular_vel", "leg1", "leg2"]

lime_mask = LunarLanderTabularMask(action_space=n_actions)
lime_explainer = TabularLimeExplainability(
    device=device,
    mask=lime_mask,
    feature_names=feature_names,
    training_data=training_data
)

lmut_mask = LunarLanderTabularMask(action_space=n_actions)
lmut_explainer = LMUTExplainability(device, lmut_mask)

# Setup and train
obs, _ = env.reset()
lime_explainer.set(env)
lime_explainer.prepare(agents)

lmut_explainer.set(env)
lmut_explainer.prepare(agents)
lmut_explainer.collect_training_data(5000)
lmut_explainer.fit_models()

# Evaluation
scores_lime = [0, 0]
scores_lmut = [0, 0]

for _ in range(500):
    obs_tensor = torch.tensor(obs, dtype=torch.float32, device=device).unsqueeze(0)
    
    lime_vals = lime_explainer.value(obs_tensor.cpu().numpy())
    lmut_vals = lmut_explainer.value(obs_tensor.cpu().numpy())
    
    scores_lime = [s + v for s, v in zip(scores_lime, lime_vals)]
    scores_lmut = [s + v for s, v in zip(scores_lmut, lmut_vals)]
    
    best_agent = np.argmax(scores_lime)
    action = agents[best_agent].predict(obs_tensor)
    
    obs, _, terminated, truncated, _ = env.step(action)
    if terminated or truncated:
        obs, _ = env.reset()

print(f"LIME Scores: Good={scores_lime[0]:.2f}, Bad={scores_lime[1]:.2f}")
print(f"LMUT Scores: Good={scores_lmut[0]:.2f}, Bad={scores_lmut[1]:.2f}")

# Generate visualizations
lmut_explainer.visualize_tree_structure(
    agent_idx=0,
    save_path="lmut_tree_visualizations/agent_0_tree_structure.png",
    feature_names=feature_names
)
```

## 📊 Results

### LMUT Tree Visualization

Pearl RL provides powerful visualization tools to understand agent decision-making processes. Below is an example of LMUT (Linear Model U-Tree) analysis on Lunar Lander agents:

<div align="center">
  <img src="https://i.ibb.co/N64QNZ74/lunar-lander-agent-1-tree-structure.png" alt="LMUT Tree Structure for Lunar Lander Agent 1" width="600"/>
  <br>
  <em>LMUT Tree Structure Analysis for Lunar Lander Agent 1</em>
</div>

This visualization shows:
- **Decision Tree Structure**: How the agent partitions the state space
- **Feature Importance**: Which state variables (x_pos, y_pos, x_vel, y_vel, angle, angular_vel, leg1_contact, leg2_contact) are most critical for decision-making
- **Policy Regions**: Different decision regions based on state conditions
- **Agent Behavior Patterns**: Understanding of how the agent responds to different situations

The tree structure reveals that the agent primarily considers:
1. **Position and Velocity**: Critical for landing trajectory planning
2. **Angular State**: Important for orientation control
3. **Leg Contact**: Essential for landing detection

This level of interpretability goes far beyond simple reward signals, providing deep insights into the agent's internal decision-making logic.

### LIME Heatmaps

Pearl RL also provides LIME (Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations) heatmaps that show which parts of the input are most important for agent decisions at different time steps:

<div align="center">
  <table>
    <tr>
      <td align="center">
        <img src="https://i.ibb.co/GvhZ7w67/heatmap-step-0-agent-0.png" alt="LIME Heatmap Step 0 Agent 0" width="250"/>
        <br>
        <em>Step 0, Agent 0</em>
      </td>
      <td align="center">
        <img src="https://i.ibb.co/qfNt8CG/heatmap-step-1-agent-1.png" alt="LIME Heatmap Step 1 Agent 1" width="250"/>
        <br>
        <em>Step 1, Agent 1</em>
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td align="center">
        <img src="https://i.ibb.co/bMFmJ4p4/heatmap-step-2-agent-0.png" alt="LIME Heatmap Step 2 Agent 0" width="250"/>
        <br>
        <em>Step 2, Agent 0</em>
      </td>
      <td align="center">
        <img src="https://i.ibb.co/Kcm3ds5T/heatmap-step-3-agent-1.png" alt="LIME Heatmap Step 3 Agent 1" width="250"/>
        <br>
        <em>Step 3, Agent 1</em>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </table>
  <br>
  <em>LIME Heatmaps showing feature importance across different time steps and agents</em>
</div>

These heatmaps demonstrate:
- **Temporal Evolution**: How agent focus changes over time
- **Agent Differences**: Different agents may focus on different input regions
- **Feature Saliency**: Which parts of the observation are most critical for decisions
- **Decision Rationale**: Understanding why agents make specific choices at each step

The heatmaps reveal that agents dynamically adjust their attention based on the current situation, providing valuable insights into their adaptive decision-making processes.

## 🔧 Core Components

### Agents

Pearl RL supports various RL agent types:

- **TorchDQN**: Deep Q-Network agents
- **TorchPolicy**: Policy gradient agents (REINFORCE, A2C, etc.)
- **SimpleDQN**: Basic DQN implementation
- **Custom Agents**: Extend base classes for custom implementations

### Environments

- **GymRLEnv**: Gymnasium environment wrapper
- **ObservationWrapper**: Custom observation preprocessing
- **Provided Environments**: Pre-configured Atari and Lunar Lander environments

### Explainability Methods

#### SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations)
```python
from pearl.methods.ShapExplainability import ShapExplainability

shap_explainer = ShapExplainability(device, mask)
shap_explainer.set(env)
shap_explainer.prepare(agents)
scores = shap_explainer.value(observation)
```

#### LIME (Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations)
```python
from pearl.methods.LimeExplainability import LimeExplainability

lime_explainer = LimeExplainability(device, mask)
lime_explainer.set(env)
lime_explainer.prepare(agents)
scores = lime_explainer.value(observation)
```

#### LMUT (Linear Model U-Tree)
```python
from pearl.methods.LMUTExplainability import LMUTExplainability

lmut_explainer = LMUTExplainability(device, mask)
lmut_explainer.set(env)
lmut_explainer.prepare(agents)
lmut_explainer.collect_training_data(10000)
lmut_explainer.fit_models()
scores = lmut_explainer.value(observation)

# Visualize tree structure
lmut_explainer.visualize_tree_structure(
    agent_idx=0,
    save_path="tree_structure.png",
    feature_names=["feature1", "feature2", ...]
)
```

#### Stability Analysis
```python
from pearl.methods.Stability import StabilityExplainability

stability_explainer = StabilityExplainability(
    device, 
    noise_type='gaussian', 
    noise_std=0.01, 
    num_samples=5
)
stability_explainer.set(env)
stability_explainer.prepare(agents)
scores = stability_explainer.value(observation)
```

#### Tabular LIME
```python
from pearl.methods.TabularLimeExplainability import TabularLimeExplainability

tabular_lime = TabularLimeExplainability(
    device=device,
    mask=mask,
    feature_names=["x_pos", "y_pos", "x_vel", "y_vel"],
    training_data=training_data
)
```

## 🎯 Use Cases

### 1. Agent Comparison
Compare agents with similar reward performance but different decision-making strategies.

### 2. Model Selection
Select the best agent based on explainability scores rather than just rewards.

### 3. Debugging
Understand why agents make specific decisions in critical situations.

### 4. Safety Analysis
Evaluate agent stability and robustness in noisy environments.

### 5. Research
Study the relationship between agent architecture and decision-making patterns.

## 📊 Evaluation Metrics

Pearl RL provides multiple evaluation perspectives:

- **SHAP Scores**: Feature importance-based evaluation
- **LIME Scores**: Local linear approximation scores
- **LMUT Scores**: Tree-based decision structure evaluation
- **Stability Scores**: Robustness to input perturbations
- **Combined Scores**: Weighted combination of multiple methods

## 🔬 Research Applications

Pearl RL is particularly valuable for:

- **Autonomous Systems**: Where explainability is critical for safety
- **Network Optimization**: Understanding routing and control decisions
- **Game AI**: Analyzing strategic decision-making
- **Robotics**: Evaluating control policies in real-world scenarios
- **Healthcare**: Understanding medical decision support systems

## 📚 Documentation

For detailed documentation and examples, visit our [documentation page](https://github.com/P-E-A-R-L/Pearl).

## 🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our [contributing guidelines](CONTRIBUTING.md) for details.

## 📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details.

## 📖 Citation

If you use Pearl RL in your research, please cite:

```bibtex
@software{pearl_rl,
  title={Pearl RL: A Reinforcement Learning Model Selection Library Using Explainability},
  author={Youssef Rabie and Abdelrahman Mohamed Mahmoud Sobhy and Youssef Hagag},
  year={2025},
  url={https://github.com/P-E-A-R-L/Pearl}
}
```

## 🙏 Acknowledgments

Pearl RL builds upon the work of the reinforcement learning and explainable AI communities. We thank the contributors to PyTorch, Gymnasium, SHAP, LIME, and other open-source projects that make this work possible.

---

<div align="center">
  <strong>Pearl RL: Where Explainability Meets Reinforcement Learning</strong>
</div>