IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joheur/v22y2016i6d10.1007_s10732-016-9320-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can Monte-Carlo Tree Search learn to sacrifice?

Author

Listed:
  • Nathan Companez

    (Monash University)

  • Aldeida Aleti

    (Monash University)

Abstract

One of the most basic activities performed by an intelligent agent is deciding what to do next. The decision is usually about selecting the move with the highest expectation, or exploring new scenarios. Monte-Carlo Tree Search (MCTS), which was developed as a game playing agent, deals with this exploration–exploitation ‘dilemma’ using a multi-armed bandits strategy. The success of MCTS in a wide range of problems, such as combinatorial optimisation, reinforcement learning, and games, is due to its ability to rapidly evaluate problem states without requiring domain-specific knowledge. However, it has been acknowledged that the trade-off between exploration and exploitation is crucial for the performance of the algorithm, and affects the efficiency of the agent in learning deceptive states. One type of deception is states that give immediate rewards, but lead to a suboptimal solution in the long run. These states are known as trap states, and have been thoroughly investigated in previous research. In this work, we study the opposite of trap states, known as sacrifice states, which are deceptive moves that result in a local loss but are globally optimal, and investigate the efficiency of MCTS enhancements in identifying this type of moves.

Suggested Citation

  • Nathan Companez & Aldeida Aleti, 2016. "Can Monte-Carlo Tree Search learn to sacrifice?," Journal of Heuristics, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 783-813, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:joheur:v:22:y:2016:i:6:d:10.1007_s10732-016-9320-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10732-016-9320-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10732-016-9320-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10732-016-9320-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jean-Yves Potvin & Samy Bengio, 1996. "The Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows Part II: Genetic Search," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 165-172, May.
    2. David Silver & Aja Huang & Chris J. Maddison & Arthur Guez & Laurent Sifre & George van den Driessche & Julian Schrittwieser & Ioannis Antonoglou & Veda Panneershelvam & Marc Lanctot & Sander Dieleman, 2016. "Mastering the game of Go with deep neural networks and tree search," Nature, Nature, vol. 529(7587), pages 484-489, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xiaoyue Li & John M. Mulvey, 2023. "Optimal Portfolio Execution in a Regime-switching Market with Non-linear Impact Costs: Combining Dynamic Program and Neural Network," Papers 2306.08809, arXiv.org.
    2. Zhewei Zhang & Youngjin Yoo & Kalle Lyytinen & Aron Lindberg, 2021. "The Unknowability of Autonomous Tools and the Liminal Experience of Their Use," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(4), pages 1192-1213, December.
    3. Yuhong Wang & Lei Chen & Hong Zhou & Xu Zhou & Zongsheng Zheng & Qi Zeng & Li Jiang & Liang Lu, 2021. "Flexible Transmission Network Expansion Planning Based on DQN Algorithm," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-21, April.
    4. Gokhale, Gargya & Claessens, Bert & Develder, Chris, 2022. "Physics informed neural networks for control oriented thermal modeling of buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    5. Li Xia, 2020. "Risk‐Sensitive Markov Decision Processes with Combined Metrics of Mean and Variance," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(12), pages 2808-2827, December.
    6. Neha Soni & Enakshi Khular Sharma & Narotam Singh & Amita Kapoor, 2019. "Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Businesses: from Research, Innovation, Market Deployment to Future Shifts in Business Models," Papers 1905.02092, arXiv.org.
    7. Yin, Linfei & He, Xiaoyu, 2023. "Artificial emotional deep Q learning for real-time smart voltage control of cyber-physical social power systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    8. repec:iim:iimawp:14638 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Taejong Joo & Hyunyoung Jun & Dongmin Shin, 2022. "Task Allocation in Human–Machine Manufacturing Systems Using Deep Reinforcement Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-18, February.
    10. Derigs, U. & Kaiser, R., 2007. "Applying the attribute based hill climber heuristic to the vehicle routing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 177(2), pages 719-732, March.
    11. Liu, Fuh-Hwa Franklin & Shen, Sheng-Yuan, 1999. "A route-neighborhood-based metaheuristic for vehicle routing problem with time windows," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(3), pages 485-504, November.
    12. Burka, Dávid & Puppe, Clemens & Szepesváry, László & Tasnádi, Attila, 2022. "Voting: A machine learning approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 299(3), pages 1003-1017.
    13. Oleh Lukianykhin & Tetiana Bogodorova, 2021. "Voltage Control-Based Ancillary Service Using Deep Reinforcement Learning," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-22, April.
    14. De Bruyn, Arnaud & Viswanathan, Vijay & Beh, Yean Shan & Brock, Jürgen Kai-Uwe & von Wangenheim, Florian, 2020. "Artificial Intelligence and Marketing: Pitfalls and Opportunities," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 91-105.
    15. Zhimian Chen & Yizeng Wang & Hao Hu & Zhipeng Zhang & Chengwei Zhang & Shukun Zhou, 2024. "Investigating Autonomous Vehicle Driving Strategies in Highway Ramp Merging Zones," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-22, December.
    16. Bochra Rabbouch & Foued Saâdaoui & Rafaa Mraihi, 2021. "Efficient implementation of the genetic algorithm to solve rich vehicle routing problems," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 1763-1791, September.
    17. Keerthana Sivamayil & Elakkiya Rajasekar & Belqasem Aljafari & Srete Nikolovski & Subramaniyaswamy Vairavasundaram & Indragandhi Vairavasundaram, 2023. "A Systematic Study on Reinforcement Learning Based Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-23, February.
    18. Zhalechian, M. & Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, R. & Zahiri, B. & Mohammadi, M., 2016. "Sustainable design of a closed-loop location-routing-inventory supply chain network under mixed uncertainty," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 182-214.
    19. Chen, Jiaxin & Shu, Hong & Tang, Xiaolin & Liu, Teng & Wang, Weida, 2022. "Deep reinforcement learning-based multi-objective control of hybrid power system combined with road recognition under time-varying environment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PC).
    20. Amirhosein Mosavi & Yaser Faghan & Pedram Ghamisi & Puhong Duan & Sina Faizollahzadeh Ardabili & Ely Salwana & Shahab S. Band, 2020. "Comprehensive Review of Deep Reinforcement Learning Methods and Applications in Economics," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-42, September.
    21. Zhang, Yihao & Chai, Zhaojie & Lykotrafitis, George, 2021. "Deep reinforcement learning with a particle dynamics environment applied to emergency evacuation of a room with obstacles," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 571(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joheur:v:22:y:2016:i:6:d:10.1007_s10732-016-9320-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.