Robust Learning in Expert Networks: A Comparative Analysis

Learning how to refer effectively in an expert-referral network is an emerging challenge at the intersection of Active Learning and MultiAgent Reinforcement Learning. Distributed interval estimation learning (DIEL) was previously found to be promising for learning appropriate referral choices, compared to greedy and Q-learning methods. This paper extends these results in several directions: First, learning methods with several multi-armed bandit (MAB) algorithms are compared along with greedy variants, each optimized individually. Second, DIEL’s rapid performance gain in the early phase of learning proved equally convincing in the case of multi-hop referral, a condition not heretofore explored. Third, a robustness analysis across the learning algorithms, with an emphasis on capacity constraints and evolving networks (experts dropping out and new experts of unknown performance entering) shows rapid recovery. Fourth, the referral paradigm is successfully extended to teams of Stochastic Local Search (SLS) SAT solvers with different capabilities.