# Tag Info

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What's the difference between model-free and model-based reinforcement learning? In Reinforcement Learning, the terms "model-based" and "model-free" do not refer to the use of a neural network or other statistical learning model to predict values, or even to predict next state (although the latter may be used as part of a model-based algorithm and be called ...

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Model-based reinforcement learning has an agent try to understand the world and create a model to represent it. Here the model is trying to capture 2 functions, the transition function from states $T$ and the reward function $R$. From this model, the agent has a reference and can plan accordingly. However, it is not necessary to learn a model, and the ...

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In reinforcement learning (RL), there is an agent which interacts with an environment (in time steps). At each time step, the agent decides and executes an action, $a$, on an environment, and the environment responds to the agent by moving from the current state (of the environment), $s$, to the next state (of the environment), $s'$, and by emitting a scalar ...

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Although there are several good answers, I want to add this paragraph from Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction, page 303, for a more psychological view on the difference. The distinction between model-free and model-based reinforcement learning algorithms corresponds to the distinction psychologists make between habitual and goal-directed control ...

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The main idea is that you can estimate $V^\pi(s)$, the value of a state $s$ under a given policy $\pi$, even if you don't have a model of the environment, by visiting that state $s$ and following the policy $\pi$ after that state. If you repeat this process many times, you'll get many samples of trajectories starting at $s$ with some total return associated ...

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Your two suggestions are not mutually exclusive. If you go by this process, you'll have to do a "Cartesian product" of a bunch of different RL categorizations which would get out of hand. I recommend, if you can, to describe some sort of "RL taxonomy" instead. By this I mean describing different RL characterizations without assuming they'...

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In respect of RL, is model-free and off-policy the same thing, just different terminology? No, they are entirely different terms, with the only thing they have in common is that they are both ways in which an RL agent can vary. An agent is generally either working off-policy or on-policy, and is generally either model-based or model-free. These things can ...

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In Model Based Reinforcement learning, state and state-action values for all states can be calculated based on the bellman equations. The equations are taken from Andrew Ng's Algorithms for Inverse Reinforcement Learning $$V^{\pi}(s) = R(s) + \gamma \sum_{s'}P(s'|s,a)V^{\pi}(s') \\ Q^{\pi}(s,a) = R(s) + \gamma \sum_{s'}P(s'|s,a)V^{\pi}(s')$$ In this setting, ...

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In Reinforcement Learning (RL), the use of the term Monte Carlo has been slightly adjusted by convention to refer to only a few specific things. The more general use of "Monte Carlo" is for simulation methods that use random numbers to sample - often as a replacement for an otherwise difficult analysis or exhaustive search. In RL, Monte Carlo methods are ...

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Model-Free RL In Model-Free RL, the agent does not have access to a model of the environment. By environment I mean a function which predicts state transition and rewards. As of the time of writing, model-free methods are more popular and have been researched extensively. Model-Based RL In Model-Based RL, the agent has access to a model of the environment. ...

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According to OpenAI – Kinds of RL Algorithms, algorithms which use a model of the environment, i.e. a function which predicts state transitions and rewards, are called model-based methods, and those that don’t are called model-free. This model can either have been given the agent or learned by the agent. Using a model allows the agent to plan by thinking ...

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However, if we can model the environment, why should we want to employ a model-free algorithm? Depends what you mean by "model the environment". There are two kinds of model: Distribution model, which provides full access to a function like $p(r,s'|s,a)$, the probability of observing reward $r$ and next state $s'$ given starting state $s$ and ...

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Minimax is a planning algorithm, and all planning algorithms need access to a model of the environment in order to look ahead or simulate possible future states and results. Technically this does not need to be 100% accurate or complete. It could even be a learned model. However, in the case of applying minimax to classic two player games, such as chess or ...

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why is it not possible to suggest a policy solely on the basis of state-values; why do we need state-action values? A policy function takes state as an argument and returns an action $a = \pi(s)$, or it may return a probability distribution over actions $\mathbf{Pr}\{A_t=a|S_t=s \} =\pi(a|s)$. In order to do this rationally, an agent needs to use the ...

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In this Medium article I found [1] it is quite well explained what is behind the better model efficiency in model based RL in comparison to model free one. Main difference between those two is like you said, that the model helps in finding the correct path more efficiently because of the existence of the model. Maybe you cannot find new samples (point 1) ...

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Everything you say in your post is correct, apart from the wrong assumption that policy iteration is model-free. PI is a model-based algorithm because of the reasons you're mentioning. See my answer to the question What's the difference between model-free and model-based reinforcement learning?.

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Sutton and Barto explain it themselves in section 5.9. I post it with a bit of context. The equation you're looking for is 5.13.

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Because the value of the terminal state is 0 by definition. There is no further reward to be obtained once you reach the terminal state.

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This is a variant of RL value-based approach using afterstate values. These are similar to action values, but have the following properties: Afterstates treat an action as "choosing a next state". This works well for deterministic environments, or in games where setting a board state is at least deterministic before any random factors might apply (...

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How does policy evaluation work for continuous state space model-free approaches? ... Let's say you use a DQN to find another policy, how does model-free policy evaluation work then? Policy evaluation is the process of determining state-value $v_{\pi}(s)$ or action-value $q_{\pi}(s, a)$ functions for the current policy. In the context of continuous state ...

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The original question about both the estimation of the transition model, often denoted as $T$, and the reward function, sometimes denoted as $R$, arose because I was thinking about the probability distribution often denoted as \color{red}{p}\left(s^{\prime}, r \mid s, a\right) \doteq \operatorname{Pr}\left\{S_{t}=s^{\prime}, R_{t}=r \mid S_{t-1}=s, A_{t-1}=...

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Given that model-based RL algorithms do not necessarily estimate or compute the transition model or reward function, in the case these are unknown, how can they be computed or estimated (so that they can be used by the model-based algorithms)? A generally reliable approach to creating learned models from interacting with the environment, then using those ...

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