# Dynamics Generalisation in Reinforcement Learning via Adaptive Context-Aware Policies

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.16686 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.16686/

## Key facts

- Cited by 20 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 76 of its 108 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 25 Oct 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 76)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [PyTorch: An Imperative Style, High-Performance Deep Learning Library](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.01703/) (2019)
- [Proximal Policy Optimization Algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.06347/) (2017)
- [Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning for Fast Adaptation of Deep Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.03400/) (2017)
- [Soft Actor-Critic: Off-Policy Maximum Entropy Deep Reinforcement Learning with a Stochastic Actor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.01290/) (2018)
- [Parameter-Efficient Transfer Learning for NLP](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.00751/) (2019)
- [FiLM: Visual Reasoning with a General Conditioning Layer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1709.07871/) (2017)
- [High-Dimensional Continuous Control Using Generalized Advantage Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.02438/) (2015)
- [OpenAI Gym](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.01540/) (2016)
- [Domain Randomization for Transferring Deep Neural Networks from Simulation to the Real World](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.06907/) (2017)
- [HyperNetworks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.09106/) (2016)
- [A Generalist Agent](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.06175/) (2022)
- [Solving Rubik's Cube with a Robot Hand](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.07113/) (2019)
- [Learning Dexterous In-Hand Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.00177/) (2018)
- [Sim-to-Real Transfer of Robotic Control with Dynamics Randomization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.06537/) (2017)
- [FLAVA: A Foundational Language And Vision Alignment Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.04482/) (2021)
- [Learning multiple visual domains with residual adapters](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.08045/) (2017)
- [RMA: Rapid Motor Adaptation for Legged Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.04034/) (2021)
- [RL2: Fast Reinforcement Learning via Slow Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.02779/) (2016)
- [Robust Adversarial Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.02702/) (2017)
- [MAD-X: An Adapter-Based Framework for Multi-Task Cross-Lingual Transfer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.00052/) (2020)
- [AdapterHub: A Framework for Adapting Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.07779/) (2020)
- [Sim-to-Real Transfer in Deep Reinforcement Learning for Robotics: a Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.13303/) (2020)
- [Efficient Off-Policy Meta-Reinforcement Learning via Probabilistic Context Variables](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.08254/) (2019)
- [A Comprehensive Survey on Pretrained Foundation Models: A History from BERT to ChatGPT](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.09419/) (2023)
- [Quantifying Generalization in Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.02341/) (2018)
- [Parameter-efficient Multi-task Fine-tuning for Transformers via Shared Hypernetworks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.04489/) (2021)
- [Learning to Adapt in Dynamic, Real-World Environments Through Meta-Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.11347/) (2018)
- [Learning Agile Robotic Locomotion Skills by Imitating Animals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.00784/) (2020)
- [Graph networks as learnable physics engines for inference and control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.01242/) (2018)

## Built on by (most cited first, 20 of 20)

- [Dreaming of Many Worlds: Learning Contextual World Models Aids Zero-Shot Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.10967/) (2024)
- [PEAC: Unsupervised Pre-training for Cross-Embodiment Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.14073/) (2024)
- [Hierarchical Transformers are Efficient Meta-Reinforcement Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.06402/) (2024)
- [Inferring Behavior-Specific Context Improves Zero-Shot Generalization in Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.09521/) (2024)
- [Dynamics-Aligned Latent Imagination in Contextual World Models for Zero-Shot Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.20294/) (2025)
- [Out-of-Distribution Generalization with a SPARC: Racing 100 Unseen Vehicles with a Single Policy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.09737/) (2025)
- [GRAM: Generalization in Deep RL with a Robust Adaptation Module](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.04323/) (2024)
- [Make Haste Slowly: A Theory of Emergent Structured Mixed Selectivity in Feature Learning ReLU Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.06181/) (2025)
- [Pessimism Principle Can Be Effective: Towards a Framework for Zero-Shot Transfer Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.18447/) (2025)
- [Adaptive Shielding for Safe Reinforcement Learning under Hidden-Parameter Dynamics Shifts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.11033/) (2025)
- [A Survey on Training-free Alignment of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.09016/) (2025)
- [On Task-Relevant Loss Functions in Meta-Reinforcement Learning and Online LQR](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.05465/) (2023)
- [On the Fly Adaptation of Behavior Tree-Based Policies through Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.06309/) (2025)
- [Contextual Intelligence The Next Leap for Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.02348/) (2026)
- [On the Mistaken Assumption of Interchangeable Deep Reinforcement Learning Implementations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.22575/) (2025)
- [Zero-Shot Context Generalization in Reinforcement Learning from Few Training Contexts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.07348/) (2025)
- [Adaptive Policy Backbone via Shared Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.22310/) (2025)
- [Dynamic Context Scheduling: Learning Beyond the Static Universe](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.20799/) (2026)
- [Amortized Low-Rank Adaptation for Model-Based Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.12278/) (2026)
- [VIGOR: Zero-Shot Visual Generalization via Latent-Space Consistency in Model-Based Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.02801/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

While reinforcement learning has achieved remarkable successes in several domains, its real-world application is limited due to many methods failing to generalise to unfamiliar conditions. In this work, we consider the problem of generalising to new transition dynamics, corresponding to cases in which the environment's response to the agent's actions differs. For example, the gravitational force exerted on a robot depends on its mass and changes the robot's mobility. Consequently, in such cases, it is necessary to condition an agent's actions on extrinsic state information and pertinent contextual information reflecting how the environment responds. While the need for context-sensitive policies has been established, the manner in which context is incorporated architecturally has received less attention. Thus, in this work, we present an investigation into how context information should be incorporated into behaviour learning to improve generalisation. To this end, we introduce a neural network architecture, the Decision Adapter, which generates the weights of an adapter module and conditions the behaviour of an agent on the context information. We show that the Decision Adapter is a useful generalisation of a previously proposed architecture and empirically demonstrate that it results in superior generalisation performance compared to previous approaches in several environments. Beyond this, the Decision Adapter is more robust to irrelevant distractor variables than several alternative methods.