Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Navigating Classic Atari Games With Deep Learning, Ayan Abhiranya Singh

Master's Projects

Games for the Atari 2600 console provide great environments for testing reinforcement learning algorithms. In reinforcement learning algorithms, an agent typically learns about its environment via the delivery of periodic rewards. Deep Q-Learning, a variant of Q-Learning, utilizes neural networks which train a Q-function to predict the highest future reward given an input state and action. Deep Q-learning has shown great results in training agents to play Atari 2600 games like Space Invaders and Breakout. However, Deep Q-Learning has historically struggled with learning how to play games with greater emphasis on exploration and delayed rewards, like Ms. PacMan. In this …