Q-learning with Nearest Neighbors

Abstract: We consider model-free reinforcement learning for infinite-horizon discounted Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) with a continuous state space and unknown transition kernel, when only a single sample path under an arbitrary policy of the system is available. We consider the Nearest Neighbor Q-Learning (NNQL) algorithm to learn the optimal Q function using nearest neighbor regression method. As the main contribution, we provide tight finite sample analysis of the convergence rate. In particular, for MDPs with a $d$-dimensional state space and the discounted factor $\gamma \in (0,1)$, given an arbitrary sample path with "covering time" $ L $, we establish that the algorithm is guaranteed to output an $\varepsilon$-accurate estimate of the optimal Q-function using $\tilde{O}\big(L/(\varepsilon^3(1-\gamma)^7)\big)$ samples. For instance, for a well-behaved MDP, the covering time of the sample path under the purely random policy scales as $ \tilde{O}\big(1/\varepsilon^d\big),$ so the sample complexity scales as $\tilde{O}\big(1/\varepsilon^{d+3}\big).$ Indeed, we establish a lower bound that argues that the dependence of $ \tilde{\Omega}\big(1/\varepsilon^{d+2}\big)$ is necessary.