Off-Policy RL Algorithms Can be Sample-Efficient for Continuous Control via Sample Multiple Reuse
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Abstract (arXiv)
Sample efficiency is one of the most critical issues for online reinforcement learning (RL). Existing methods achieve higher sample efficiency by adopting model-based methods, Q-ensemble, or better exploration mechanisms. We, instead, propose to train an off-policy RL agent via updating on a fixed sampled batch multiple times, thus reusing these samples and better exploiting them within a single optimization loop. We name our method sample multiple reuse (SMR). We theoretically show the properties of Q-learning with SMR, e.g., convergence. Furthermore, we incorporate SMR with off-the-shelf off-policy RL algorithms and conduct experiments on a variety of continuous control benchmarks. Empirical results show that SMR significantly boosts the sample efficiency of the base methods across most of the evaluated tasks without any hyperparameter tuning or additional tricks.
Key facts. Cited by 12 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 71 of its 112 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 29 May 2023.
Builds on
71 of 112 references.
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50 most cited of 71 All 71 (JSON)
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Citing papers per year: 2023: 1; 2024: 3; 2025: 4; 2026: 4.
12 papers.
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- 2024Cross-Domain Policy Adaptation by Capturing Representation Mismatchcited by 24
- 2026UI-Voyager: A Self-Evolving GUI Agent Learning via Failed Experiencecited by 11
- 2025A Forget-and-Grow Strategy for Deep Reinforcement Learning Scaling in Continuous Controlcited by 9
- 2025SPEQ: Offline Stabilization Phases for Efficient Q-Learning in High Update-To-Data Ratio Reinforcement Learningcited by 7
- 2024Understanding What Affects the Generalization Gap in Visual Reinforcement Learning: Theory and Empirical Evidencecited by 5
- 2026Temporal Difference Learning with Constrained Initial Representationscited by 2
- 2024Novelty-based Sample Reuse for Continuous Robotics Controlcited by 1
- 2026SOPE: Stabilizing Off-Policy Evaluation for Online RL with Prior Datacited by 1
- 2026Debiased Model-based Representations for Sample-efficient Continuous Controlcited by 1
- 2025Scaling DRL for Decision Making: A Survey on Data, Network, and Training Budget Strategiescited by 0
- 2025Multi-Actor Multi-Critic Deep Deterministic Reinforcement Learning with a Novel Q-Ensemble Methodcited by 0
- 2026Debiased Model-based Representations for Sample-efficient Continuous Control12 May 2026
- 2026SOPE: Stabilizing Off-Policy Evaluation for Online RL with Prior Data7 May 2026
- 2026UI-Voyager: A Self-Evolving GUI Agent Learning via Failed Experience25 Mar 2026
- 2026Temporal Difference Learning with Constrained Initial Representations12 Feb 2026
- 2025Multi-Actor Multi-Critic Deep Deterministic Reinforcement Learning with a Novel Q-Ensemble Method1 Oct 2025
- 2025Scaling DRL for Decision Making: A Survey on Data, Network, and Training Budget Strategies5 Aug 2025
- 2025A Forget-and-Grow Strategy for Deep Reinforcement Learning Scaling in Continuous Control3 Jul 2025
- 2025SPEQ: Offline Stabilization Phases for Efficient Q-Learning in High Update-To-Data Ratio Reinforcement Learning15 Jan 2025
- 2024Novelty-based Sample Reuse for Continuous Robotics Control17 Oct 2024
- 2024Cross-Domain Policy Adaptation by Capturing Representation Mismatch24 May 2024
- 2024Understanding What Affects the Generalization Gap in Visual Reinforcement Learning: Theory and Empirical Evidence5 Feb 2024
- 2023Revisiting Plasticity in Visual Reinforcement Learning: Data, Modules and Training Stages11 Oct 2023