Benchmarking Deep and Non-deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithms for Discrete Environments

Given the plethora of Reinforcement Learning algorithms available in the literature, it can prove challenging to decide on the most appropriate one to use in order to solve a given Reinforcement Learning task. This work presents a benchmark study on the performance of several Reinforcement Learning algorithms for discrete learning environments. The study includes several deep as well as non-deep learning algorithms, with special focus on the Deep Q-Network algorithm and its variants. Neural Fitted Q-Iteration, the predecessor of Deep Q-Network as well as Vanilla Policy Gradient and a planner were also included in this assessment in order to provide a wider range of comparison between different approaches and paradigms. Three learning environments were used in order to carry out the tests, including a 2D maze and two OpenAI Gym environments, namely a custom-built Foraging/Tagging environment and the CartPole environment.