Physics-Regulated Deep Reinforcement Learning: Invariant Embeddings
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Abstract (arXiv)
This paper proposes the Phy-DRL: a physics-regulated deep reinforcement learning (DRL) framework for safety-critical autonomous systems. The Phy-DRL has three distinguished invariant-embedding designs: i) residual action policy (i.e., integrating data-driven-DRL action policy and physics-model-based action policy), ii) automatically constructed safety-embedded reward, and iii) physics-model-guided neural network (NN) editing, including link editing and activation editing. Theoretically, the Phy-DRL exhibits 1) a mathematically provable safety guarantee and 2) strict compliance of critic and actor networks with physics knowledge about the action-value function and action policy. Finally, we evaluate the Phy-DRL on a cart-pole system and a quadruped robot. The experiments validate our theoretical results and demonstrate that Phy-DRL features guaranteed safety compared to purely data-driven DRL and solely model-based design while offering remarkably fewer learning parameters and fast training towards safety guarantee.
Key facts. Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 34 of its 54 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 26 May 2023.
Builds on
34 of 54 references.
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22 more
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Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2024: 3; 2025: 1; 2026: 4.
8 papers.
- 2024Stable and Safe Human-aligned Reinforcement Learning through Neural Ordinary Differential Equationscited by 3
- 2024Simplex-enabled Safe Continual Learning Machinecited by 2
- 2026TRIDENT: Breaking the Hybrid-Safety-Physics Coupling for Provably Safe Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learningcited by 2
- 2026Efficient Real-World Autonomous Racing via Attenuated Residual Policy Optimizationcited by 1
- 2024Physics-model-guided Worst-case Sampling for Safe Reinforcement Learningcited by 0
- 2025Real-DRL: Teach and Learn in Realitycited by 0
- 2026Safe Online Learning via Smooth Safety-Structured Policy Compositioncited by 0
- 2026Safe and Robust Neural Policy Learning with Statistical Verification for Sim-to-Real Deployment in Roboticscited by 0
- 2026Safe and Robust Neural Policy Learning with Statistical Verification for Sim-to-Real Deployment in Robotics6 Aug 2026
- 2026Safe Online Learning via Smooth Safety-Structured Policy Composition30 Jun 2026
- 2026TRIDENT: Breaking the Hybrid-Safety-Physics Coupling for Provably Safe Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning16 Jun 2026
- 2026Efficient Real-World Autonomous Racing via Attenuated Residual Policy Optimization13 Mar 2026
- 2025Real-DRL: Teach and Learn in Reality30 Oct 2025
- 2024Physics-model-guided Worst-case Sampling for Safe Reinforcement Learning17 Dec 2024
- 2024Simplex-enabled Safe Continual Learning Machine5 Sep 2024
- 2024Stable and Safe Human-aligned Reinforcement Learning through Neural Ordinary Differential Equations23 Jan 2024