Exercise 1: The finite-horizon decision problem

Exercise 1: The finite-horizon decision problem#

Note

  • The exercises material is divided into general information (found on this page) and the actual exercise instructions. You can download this weeks exercise instructions from here:

  • You are encouraged to prepare the homework problems 1, 2 (indicated by a hand in the PDF file) at home and present your solution during the exercise session.

  • To get the newest version of the course material, please see Making sure your files are up to date

This weeks exercise will give you an introduction to the three main components of this course. They are:

The Environment

Represented by an gymnasium gymnasium.Env class. This class contains the python-implementation of the problem we want to solve (Herlau [Her24], Subsection 4.3.1). It is responsible for maintaining an internal state (the state which the environment is in right now), and has a function which responds to actions (gymnasium.Env.step()).

The Agent

Represented as a Agent class. The agent interacts with the environment (Herlau [Her24], Subsection 4.3.2). We can think about it as a robot (in our case, a simulated robot) which gets information from the environment and decides which actions to take. The agent can (and often do) maintain an internal state for planning or learning. This internal state may include a model of the environment.

Training

Finally, the agent and environment must interact in the world loop (Herlau [Her24], Subsection 4.3.4). In this course this is accomplished using the train() function. What it does it to feed observed states in the agent (i.e., call a method of the agent) which allows the agent to compute an action. This action is then fed back into the environment. This is sometimes called the world loop.

(Source code, png, hires.png, pdf)

../_images/ex01-1.png

An agent (represented by the yellow pacman) in an environment. Plot generated by the software in this course.#

Inventory environment#

The environment represents the problem we wish to solve. In reinforcement learning it could be a game, and in control theory it could be a simulation of e.g. a car driving around a track.

Nearly all environments will need to maintain an internal state \(x_k\). In a computer game, this represents the position of the player, enemies, etc., or in a control environment it represents positions and velocities of the object(s) that we are trying to control. To do this effectively, we represent environments using classes. For instance, the inventory environment defined as so:

Note

To be annoying, gymnasium environments typically denote the state by s (rather than \(x_k\)), and actions by a (rather than \(u_k\)). This notation is taken from reinforcement learning.

# inventory_environment.py
class InventoryEnvironment(Env): 
    def __init__(self, N=2):
        self.N = N                               # planning horizon
        self.action_space      = Discrete(3)     # Possible actions {0, 1, 2}
        self.observation_space = Discrete(3)     # Possible observations {0, 1, 2}

    def reset(self):
        self.s = 0                               # reset initial state x0=0
        self.k = 0                               # reset time step k=0
        return self.s, {}                        # Return the state we reset to (and an empty dict)

    def step(self, a):
        w = np.random.choice(3, p=(.1, .7, .2))    # Generate random disturbance
        s_next = max(0, min(2, self.s-w+a))           # next state; x_{k+1} =  f_k(x_k, u_k, w_k) 
        reward = -(a + (self.s + a - w)**2)           # reward = -cost      = -g_k(x_k, u_k, w_k)
        terminated = self.k == self.N-1               # Have we terminated? (i.e. is k==N-1)
        self.s = s_next                               # update environment state
        self.k += 1                                   # update current time step 
        return s_next, reward, terminated, False, {}  # return transition information

The following example shows how we can use the environment:

Note

You can ignore the info-dictionary for now. It is useful in some reinforcement learning methods where the info-dictionary can be used to store extra information such as the (true) goal location for performance monitoring, but it is perhaps a bit annoying when you are just starting out.

>>> from irlc.ex01.inventory_environment import InventoryEnvironment
>>> env = InventoryEnvironment(N=4)
>>> x0, info = env.reset()
>>> print("Initial state is", x0)
Initial state is 0
>>> print("The 'extra information' is", info)
The 'extra information' is {}

Mathematically, recall the states and actions are denoted by:

\[x_0, u_0, x_1, u_1, \cdots\]

When you call the reset-function, it returns the starting state \(x_0\) as the variable x0, as well as a dictionary info with optional extra information.

Tip

Since actions and observations can be both discrete and continuous, different environments will use different action and observation spaces depending on the situation. In the example above they are instances of the Discrete observation space, representing integers \(\{0,1,2,\cdots,n-1\}\). You can get \(n\) using env.observation_space.n and env.action_space.n.

The environment also defines two variables, the observation_space and the action_space. Lets take a look at both:

>>> import gymnasium as gym
>>> from irlc.ex01.inventory_environment import InventoryEnvironment
>>> env = InventoryEnvironment()
>>> print(env.observation_space)
Discrete(3)
>>> print(env.action_space)
Discrete(3)
>>> a = env.action_space.sample() # Get a random action
>>> print("Action is", a)
Action is 1
>>> print("Is this a valid action?", a in env.action_space, "is 9 a valid action?", 9 in env.action_space)
Is this a valid action? True is 9 a valid action? False

The observation and action spaces can be used to initialize the algorithm we want to use to solve the problem. Conveniently, the spaces contains a sample-method which be used to generate a random action: env.action_space.sample().

The step-function#

To actually take (execute) an action, you just need to pass it into the step-function of the environment:

>>> from irlc.ex01.inventory_environment import InventoryEnvironment
>>> env = InventoryEnvironment()
>>> s0, _ = env.reset()
>>> next_state, reward, terminated, truncated, info = env.step(2) # Take action 2.
>>> print(f"Went from state {s0} to {next_state} when taking action 3 and got {reward=}")
Went from state 0 to 1 when taking action 3 and got reward=-3

In this example, we first reset the environment to get the starting state \(s_0\) as x0, then tell the environment we want to take action \(a_0=2\), after which the step function returns 5 arguments:

Note

We use reward (and not cost) to be consistent with the gymnasium environment specification. You can get the cost by multiplying with minus one, i.e. cost =  -reward.

  • next_state: The next state \(s_1\) (the one the state is in at the end of the program),

  • reward: the first reward \(r_1\) (recall that the reward is 1-indexed)

  • terminated: A bool indicating if the environment terminated or not.

  • truncated: A bool indicating if the environment was forced to terminate prematurely. You can assume it is False

  • info: A dictionary with possible extra information. Similar to the dictionary returned by reset.

You can assume the truncated-variable is False, and in most cases here in the beginning the info-dictionary will be empty.

Agents#

Tip

You can ignore the train()-function for now. We will only consider against that need to be trained during the Reinforcement Learning part of the course.

The Agent will be presented as a class with a policy function, which we denote by pi(), and a training-function denoted by train(). The following code defines an Agent which simply generates random actions (i.e. random numbers from the set \(\{0, 1, 2\}\)).

# inventory_environment.py
class RandomAgent(Agent): 
    def pi(self, s, k, info=None): 
        """ Return action to take in state s at time step k """
        return np.random.choice(3) # Return a random action

Notice that the agent inherits from the class Agent – In this specific example this is cosmetic, but all agents you write should do this since it:

  • Ensures the function signature (order and number of parameters) to the pi() and train()-function are the same

  • It gives the agent access to a few helper functions. Most notably, the agent will by default implement a random policy – since many reinforcement learning methods requires us to take random actions some of the time (exploration), this will actually be quite helpful

Training#

The training function lets the agent and environment interact with each other, i.e., generate episodes. This is how we eventually train and test all of our methods (i.e., agents).

The training function is quite simple, and it is very useful to experiment with your own version first to really understand how the agent and environment interacts.

The main part of the code is the generation of a single rollout, which implements the world loop as described in (Herlau [Her24], Subsection 4.3.4), and which can be sketched as:

# inventory_environment.py
def simplified_train(env: Env, agent: Agent) -> float: 
    s, _ = env.reset()
    J = 0  # Accumulated reward for this rollout
    for k in range(1000):
        a = agent.pi(s, k) 
        sp, r, terminated, truncated, metadata = env.step(a)
        agent.train(s, a, sp, r, terminated)
        s = sp
        J += r
        if terminated or truncated:
            break 
    return J

Note

In the \(f_k, g_k\)-notation this is:

\[\sum_{k=0}^{N-1} -g_{k}(x_k, u_k, w_k)\]

The last line will print out the total reward from one episode computed as:

\[\sum_{k=0}^{N-1} r_{k+1}\]

where \(r_k\) is the reward-variable in each step.

Note

To summarize, the training-function will simulate the interaction between the agent and the environment for one episode as follows:

  • Reset the environment to get the first state x0

  • Uses the agents policy to compute the first action, i.e. a0 = agent.pi(x0, 0) (the 0 refers to \(k=0\))

  • Let the environment compute the next state using env.step(a0)

  • Repeat until the environment terminates.

Pacman#

The inventory-environment is a little bit boring, so we will lastly also look at the Pacman-example. Our goal is to build an agent that can play Pacman, but to get to that point we first need to familiarize ourselves with the Pacman game environment.

The Pacman levels are represented as a python str, which allows us to create varied Pacman environments. For instance, this is how we can craete a Pacman game level based on a small maze with 4 food pellets:

>>> maze = """
... %%%%%%%
... %    .%
... %.P%% %
... %.   .%
... %%%%%%%
... """
>>> from irlc.pacman.pacman_environment import PacmanEnvironment
>>> env = PacmanEnvironment(maze)
>>> x0, _ = env.reset() # Works just like any other environment.

This requires a bit too much imagination, so you can plot the environment by passing render_mode='human' to the environment (this is standard for gymnasium) and then use the plotenv()-function to plot it:

(Source code, png, hires.png, pdf)

../_images/ex01-2.png

A basic example of plotting Pacman.#

If you want to try to play Pacman with a keyboard, you can copy-paste the following snippet into a text editor and it will work.

from irlc.pacman.pacman_environment import PacmanEnvironment, datadiscs
from irlc import interactive, savepdf, Agent, train
env = PacmanEnvironment(layout_str=datadiscs, render_mode='human')
env, agent = Interactive(env, Agent(env)) # This makes the environment interactive. Ignore that it needs an Agent for now.
train(env, agent, num_episodes=2)
env.close()

The Pacman environment makes use of the freedom we have in specifying the actions and the states. For instance, the states are actually objects, so we can ask a state to tell us what actions are available:

error: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is invalid or not set in the environment.
MESA: error: ZINK: failed to choose pdev
glx: failed to create drisw screen

It is important your agent only uses actions that are available in a given state, otherwise you will get an error like this:

error: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is invalid or not set in the environment.
MESA: error: ZINK: failed to choose pdev
glx: failed to create drisw screen
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<input>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/builds/02465material/02465public/02465students_complete/irlc/pacman/pacman_environment.py", line 124, in step
    raise Exception(f"Agent tried {action=} available actions {self.state.A()}")
Exception: Agent tried action='Right' available actions ['North', 'South', 'West', 'Stop']

Tip

In this case Pacman could eat both pellets by going down. To get more interesting behavior, use the variable k or the state x.

Let’s put all of this together. The following example defines a level with two food pellets and a simple agent that eats both of them:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<input>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: list indices must be integers or slices, not str

Classes and functions#

class irlc.ex01.agent.Agent(env)[source]#

The main agent class. See (Her24, Subsection 4.4.3) for additional details.

To use the agent class, you should first create an environment. In this case we will just create an instance of the InventoryEnvironment (see (Her24, Subsection 4.2.3))

Example:
>>> from irlc import Agent                                              # You can import directly from top-level package
>>> import numpy as np
>>> np.random.seed(42)                                                  # Fix the seed for reproduciability
>>> from irlc.ex01.inventory_environment import InventoryEnvironment
>>> env = InventoryEnvironment()                                        # Create an instance of the environment
>>> agent = Agent(env)                                                  # Create an instance of the agent.
>>> s0, info0 = env.reset()                                             # Always call reset to start the environment
>>> a0 = agent.pi(s0, k=0, info=info0)                                  # Tell the agent to compute action $a_{k=0}$
>>> print(f"In state {s0=}, the agent took the action {a0=}")
In state s0=0, the agent took the action a0=np.int64(1)
__init__(env)[source]#

Instantiate the Agent class.

The agent is given the openai gym environment it must interact with. This allows the agent to know what the action and observation space is.

Parameters:

env (Env) – The openai gym Env instance the agent should interact with.

pi(s, k, info=None)[source]#

Evaluate the Agent’s policy (i.e., compute the action the agent want to take) at time step k in state s.

This correspond to the environment being in a state evaluating \(x_k\), and the function should compute the next action the agent wish to take:

\[u_k = \mu_k(x_k)\]

This means that s = \(x_k\) and k = \(k =\{0, 1, ...\}\). The function should return an action that lies in the action-space of the environment.

The info dictionary:

The info-dictionary contains possible extra information returned from the environment, for instance when calling the s, info = env.reset() function. The main use in this course is in control, where the dictionary contains a value info['time_seconds'] (which corresponds to the simulation time \(t\) in seconds).

We will also use the info dictionary to let the agent know certain actions are not available. This is done by setting the info['mask']-key. Note that this is only relevant for reinforcement learning, and you should see the documentation/exercises for reinforcement learning for additional details.

The default behavior of the agent is to return a random action. An example:

>>> from irlc.pacman.pacman_environment import PacmanEnvironment
>>> from irlc import Agent
>>> env = PacmanEnvironment()
>>> s, info = env.reset()
>>> agent = Agent(env)
>>> agent.pi(s, k=0, info=info) # get a random action
'East'
>>> agent.pi(s, k=0)            # If info is not specified, all actions are assumed permissible.
'North'
Parameters:

  • s – Current state the environment is in.

  • timestep – Current time

Returns:

The action the agent want to take in the given state at the given time. By default the agent returns a random action

train(s, a, r, sp, done=False, info_s=None, info_sp=None)[source]#

Implement this function if the agent has to learn (be trained).

Note that you only have to implement this function from week 7 onwards – before that, we are not interested in control methods that learn.

The agent takes a number of input arguments. You should imagine that

  • s is the current state \(x_k`\)

  • a is the action the agent took in state s, i.e. a \(= u_k = \mu_k(x_k)\)

  • r is the reward the the agent got from that action

  • sp (s-plus) is the state the environment then transitioned to, i.e. sp \(= x_{k+1}\)

  • ‘done tells the agent if the environment has stopped

  • info_s is the information-dictionary returned by the environment as it transitioned to s

  • info_sp is the information-dictionary returned by the environment as it transitioned to sp.

The following example will hopefully clarify it by showing how you would manually call the train-function once:

Example:
>>> from irlc.ex01.inventory_environment import InventoryEnvironment    # import environment
>>> from irlc import Agent
>>> env = InventoryEnvironment()                                        # Create an instance of the environment
>>> agent = Agent(env)                                                  # Create an instance of the agent.
>>> s, info_s = env.reset()                                             # s is the current state
>>> a = agent.pi(s, k=0, info=info_s)                                   # The agent takes an action
>>> sp, r, done, _, info_sp = env.step(a)                               # Environment updates
>>> agent.train(s, a, r, sp, done, info_s, info_sp)                     # How the training function is called

In control and dynamical programming, please recall that the reward is equal to minus the cost.

Parameters:

  • s – Current state \(x_k\)

  • a – Action taken \(u_k\)

  • r – Reward obtained by taking action \(a_k\) in state \(x_k\)

  • sp – The state that the environment transitioned to \({\\bf x}_{k+1}\)

  • info_s – The information dictionary corresponding to s returned by env.reset (when \(k=0\)) and otherwise env.step.

  • info_sp – The information-dictionary corresponding to sp returned by env.step

  • done – Whether environment terminated when transitioning to sp

Returns:

None

extra_stats()[source]#

Optional: Implement this function if you wish to record extra information from the Agent while training.

You can safely ignore this method as it will only be used for control theory to create nicer plots

Return type:

dict

irlc.ex01.agent.train(env, agent=None, experiment_name=None, num_episodes=1, verbose=True, reset=True, max_steps=10000000000.0, max_runs=None, return_trajectory=True, resume_stats=None, log_interval=1, delete_old_experiments=False, seed=None)[source]#

This function implements the main training loop as described in (Her24, Subsection 4.4.4).

The loop will simulate the interaction between agent agent and the environment env. The function has a lot of special functionality, so it is useful to consider the common cases. An example:

>>> stats, _ = train(env, agent, num_episodes=2)

Simulate interaction for two episodes (i.e. environment terminates two times and is reset). stats will be a list of length two containing information from each run

>>> stats, trajectories = train(env, agent, num_episodes=2, return_Trajectory=True)

trajectories will be a list of length two containing information from the two trajectories.

>>> stats, _ = train(env, agent, experiment_name='experiments/my_run', num_episodes=2)

Save stats, and trajectories, to a file which can easily be loaded/plotted (see course software for examples of this). The file will be time-stamped so using several calls you can repeat the same experiment (run) many times.

>>> stats, _ = train(env, agent, experiment_name='experiments/my_run', num_episodes=2, max_runs=10)

As above, but do not perform more than 10 runs. Useful for repeated experiments.

Parameters:

  • env – An openai-Gym Env instance (the environment)

  • agent – An Agent instance

  • experiment_name – The outcome of this experiment will be saved in a folder with this name. This will allow you to run multiple (repeated) experiment and visualize the results in a single plot, which is very important in reinforcement learning.

  • num_episodes – Number of episodes to simulate

  • verbose – Display progress bar

  • reset – Call env.reset() before simulation start. Default is True. This is only useful in very rare cases.

  • max_steps – Terminate if this many steps have elapsed (for non-terminating environments)

  • max_runs – Maximum number of repeated experiments (requires experiment_name)

  • return_trajectory – Return trajectories list (Off by default since it might consume lots of memory)

  • resume_stats – Resume stat collection from last run (this requires the experiment_name variable to be set)

  • log_interval – Log stats less frequently than each episode. Useful if you want to run really long experiments.

  • delete_old_experiments – If true, old saved experiments will be deleted. This is useful during debugging.

  • seed – An integer. The random number generator of the environment will be reset to this seed allowing for reproducible results.

Returns:

A list where each element corresponds to each (started) episode. The elements are dictionaries, and contain the statistics for that episode.

irlc.utils.player_wrapper.interactive(env, agent, autoplay=False)[source]#

This function is used for visualizations. It can

  • Allow you to input keyboard commands to an environment

  • Allow you to save results

  • Visualize reinforcement-learning agents in the gridworld environment.

by adding a single extra line env, agent = interactive(env,agent). The following shows an example:

>>> from irlc.gridworld.gridworld_environments import BookGridEnvironment
>>> from irlc import train, Agent, interactive
>>> env = BookGridEnvironment(render_mode="human", zoom=0.8) # Pass render_mode='human' for visualization.
>>> env, agent = interactive(env, Agent(env))               # Make the environment interactive. Note that it needs an agent.
>>> train(env, agent, num_episodes=2)                     # You can train and use the agent and environment as usual.
>>> env.close()

It also enables you to visualize the environment at a matplotlib figure or save it as a pdf file using env.plot() and env.savepdf('my_file.pdf).

All demos and figures in the notes are made using this function.

Parameters:

  • env (Env) – A gym environment (an instance of the Env class)

  • agent (Agent) – An agent (an instance of the Agent class)

  • autoplay – Whether the simulation should be unpaused automatically

Return type:

(Env, Agent)

Returns:

An environment and agent which have been slightly updated to make them interact with each other. You can use them as usual with the train-function.

irlc.plotenv(env)[source]#

Given a Gymnasium environment instance, this function will plot the environment as a matplotlib image. Remember to call plt.show() to actually see the image.

For this function to work, you must create the environment with render_mode='human'.

Note

This function may not work for all gymnasium environments, however, it will work for most environments we use in this course.

Parameters:

env (Env) – The environment to plot.

Solutions to selected exercises#

Problem 3 & 4: Inventory control

Problem 5

Problem 6