RTP-Q: A Reinforcement Learning System with Time Constraints Exploration Planning for Accelerating the Learning Rate

Reinforcement learning is an efficient method for solving Markov Decision Processes that an agent improves its performance by using scalar reward values with higher capability of reactive and adaptive behaviors. Q-learning is a representative reinforcement learning method which is guaranteed to obtain an optimal policy but needs numerous trials to achieve it. k-Certainty Exploration Learning System realizes active exploration to an environment, but, the learning process is separated into two phases and estimate values are not derived during the process of identifying the environment. Dyna-Q architecture makes fuller use of a limited amount of experiences and achieves a better policy with fewer environment interactions during identifying an environment by learning and planning with constrained time, however, the exploration is not active. This paper proposes a RTP-Q reinforcement learning system which varies an efficient method for exploring an environment into time constraints exploration planning and compounds it into an integrated system of learning, planning and reacting for aiming for the best of both methods. Based on improving the performance of exploring an environment, refining the model of the environment, the RTPQ learning system accelerates the learning rate for obtaining an optimal policy. The results of experiment on navigation tasks demonstrate that the RTP-Q learning system is efficient. key words: reinforcement learning, planning, reacting, exploration, exploitation