A Reinforcement Learning Perspective on the Optimal Control of Mutation Probabilities for the (1+1) Evolutionary Algorithm: First Results on the OneMax Problem

Abstract

We study how Reinforcement Learning can be employed to optimally control parameters in evolutionary algorithms. We control the mutation probability of a (1+1) evolutionary algorithm on the OneMax function. This problem is modeled as a Markov Decision Process and solved with Value Iteration via the known transition probabilities. It is then solved via Q-Learning, a Reinforcement Learning algorithm, where the exact transition probabilities are not needed. This approach also allows previous expert or empirical knowledge to be included into learning. It opens new perspectives, both formally and computationally, for the problem of parameter control in optimization.