Hypernetworks for Zero-shot Transfer in Reinforcement Learning
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Abstract (arXiv)
In this paper, hypernetworks are trained to generate behaviors across a range of unseen task conditions, via a novel TD-based training objective and data from a set of near-optimal RL solutions for training tasks. This work relates to meta RL, contextual RL, and transfer learning, with a particular focus on zero-shot performance at test time, enabled by knowledge of the task parameters (also known as context). Our technical approach is based upon viewing each RL algorithm as a mapping from the MDP specifics to the near-optimal value function and policy and seek to approximate it with a hypernetwork that can generate near-optimal value functions and policies, given the parameters of the MDP. We show that, under certain conditions, this mapping can be considered as a supervised learning problem. We empirically evaluate the effectiveness of our method for zero-shot transfer to new reward and transition dynamics on a series of continuous control tasks from DeepMind Control Suite. Our method demonstrates significant improvements over baselines from multitask and meta RL approaches.
Key facts. Cited by 19 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 41 of its 67 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 28 Nov 2022.
Builds on
41 of 67 references.
References · 41
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29 more
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Citing papers per year: 2023: 3; 2024: 7; 2025: 4; 2026: 5.
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- 2023A Brief Review of Hypernetworks in Deep Learningcited by 102
- 2023Universal Morphology Control via Contextual Modulationcited by 23
- 2024Make-An-Agent: A Generalizable Policy Network Generator with Behavior-Prompted Diffusioncited by 14
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- 2024Learning Pareto Set for Multi-Objective Continuous Robot Controlcited by 8
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- 2025HyperVLA: Efficient Inference in Vision-Language-Action Models via Hypernetworkscited by 7
- 2025Hyper-GoalNet: Goal-Conditioned Manipulation Policy Learning with HyperNetworkscited by 4
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- 2023Domain Generalization Deep Graph Transformationcited by 1
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- 2026TeNet: Text-to-Network for Compact Policy Synthesiscited by 0
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- 2026Amortized Low-Rank Adaptation for Model-Based Reinforcement Learningcited by 0
- 2026MOCHA: Multi-Objective Co-Design using Hypernetwork Architecturescited by 0
- 2026MOCHA: Multi-Objective Co-Design using Hypernetwork Architectures24 Sep 2026
- 2026Amortized Low-Rank Adaptation for Model-Based Reinforcement Learning10 Sep 2026
- 2026Temporal Consistency Improves Generalization in Contextual Offline Meta Reinforcement Learning3 Mar 2026
- 2026DCoPilot: Generative AI-Empowered Policy Adaptation for Dynamic Data Center Operations2 Feb 2026
- 2026TeNet: Text-to-Network for Compact Policy Synthesis22 Jan 2026
- 2025Hyper-GoalNet: Goal-Conditioned Manipulation Policy Learning with HyperNetworks26 Nov 2025
- 2025HyperVLA: Efficient Inference in Vision-Language-Action Models via Hypernetworks6 Oct 2025
- 2025Adaptive Shielding for Safe Reinforcement Learning under Hidden-Parameter Dynamics Shifts20 May 2025
- 2025Capability-Aware Shared Hypernetworks for Flexible Heterogeneous Multi-Robot Coordination10 Jan 2025
- 2024Learning to Look: Seeking Information for Decision Making via Policy Factorization24 Oct 2024
- 2024TRAM: Test-Time Risk Adaptation with Mixture of Agents16 Aug 2024
- 2024Model-Based Transfer Learning for Contextual Reinforcement Learning8 Aug 2024
7 more
- 2024Make-An-Agent: A Generalizable Policy Network Generator with Behavior-Prompted Diffusion15 Jul 2024
- 2024Learning Pareto Set for Multi-Objective Continuous Robot Control27 Jun 2024
- 2024Distilling Morphology-Conditioned Hypernetworks for Efficient Universal Morphology Control9 Feb 2024
- 2024Episodic Reinforcement Learning with Expanded State-reward Space19 Jan 2024
- 2023A Brief Review of Hypernetworks in Deep Learning12 Jun 2023
- 2023Domain Generalization Deep Graph Transformation19 May 2023
- 2023Universal Morphology Control via Contextual Modulation22 Feb 2023
- 2024Model-Based Transfer Learning for Contextual Reinforcement Learningcited by 7
- 2025Hyper-GoalNet: Goal-Conditioned Manipulation Policy Learning with HyperNetworkscited by 4
- 2024Episodic Reinforcement Learning with Expanded State-reward Spacecited by 3
- 2025Adaptive Shielding for Safe Reinforcement Learning under Hidden-Parameter Dynamics Shiftscited by 2
- 2026MOCHA: Multi-Objective Co-Design using Hypernetwork Architecturescited by 0
- 2026MOCHA: Multi-Objective Co-Design using Hypernetwork Architectures24 Sep 2026
- 2025Hyper-GoalNet: Goal-Conditioned Manipulation Policy Learning with HyperNetworks26 Nov 2025
- 2025Adaptive Shielding for Safe Reinforcement Learning under Hidden-Parameter Dynamics Shifts20 May 2025
- 2024Model-Based Transfer Learning for Contextual Reinforcement Learning8 Aug 2024
- 2024Episodic Reinforcement Learning with Expanded State-reward Space19 Jan 2024
- 2024TRAM: Test-Time Risk Adaptation with Mixture of Agentscited by 1
- 2024TRAM: Test-Time Risk Adaptation with Mixture of Agents16 Aug 2024
- 2023A Brief Review of Hypernetworks in Deep Learningcited by 102
- 2023Universal Morphology Control via Contextual Modulationcited by 23
- 2024Make-An-Agent: A Generalizable Policy Network Generator with Behavior-Prompted Diffusioncited by 14
- 2024Distilling Morphology-Conditioned Hypernetworks for Efficient Universal Morphology Controlcited by 11
- 2024Learning Pareto Set for Multi-Objective Continuous Robot Controlcited by 8
- 2024Learning to Look: Seeking Information for Decision Making via Policy Factorizationcited by 3
- 2025Capability-Aware Shared Hypernetworks for Flexible Heterogeneous Multi-Robot Coordinationcited by 3
- 2023Domain Generalization Deep Graph Transformationcited by 1
- 2026DCoPilot: Generative AI-Empowered Policy Adaptation for Dynamic Data Center Operationscited by 1
- 2026TeNet: Text-to-Network for Compact Policy Synthesiscited by 0
- 2026DCoPilot: Generative AI-Empowered Policy Adaptation for Dynamic Data Center Operations2 Feb 2026
- 2026TeNet: Text-to-Network for Compact Policy Synthesis22 Jan 2026
- 2025Capability-Aware Shared Hypernetworks for Flexible Heterogeneous Multi-Robot Coordination10 Jan 2025
- 2024Learning to Look: Seeking Information for Decision Making via Policy Factorization24 Oct 2024
- 2024Make-An-Agent: A Generalizable Policy Network Generator with Behavior-Prompted Diffusion15 Jul 2024
- 2024Learning Pareto Set for Multi-Objective Continuous Robot Control27 Jun 2024
- 2024Distilling Morphology-Conditioned Hypernetworks for Efficient Universal Morphology Control9 Feb 2024
- 2023A Brief Review of Hypernetworks in Deep Learning12 Jun 2023
- 2023Domain Generalization Deep Graph Transformation19 May 2023
- 2023Universal Morphology Control via Contextual Modulation22 Feb 2023