arXiv Machine Learning
3d ago

Self-organizing reinforcement learning: a learner-free swarm approaches the explore-exploit optimum

The paper demonstrates that a minimal foraging swarm can approach the explore/exploit optimum of reinforcement learning without any learner or reward signal. Agents use heavy‑tailed Levy flights to explore, recruit neighbors via a threshold cascade on their proximity network, and disperse as patch crowds, creating a cycle that balances exploration and exploitation. The swarm attains the shape of the ideal‑free distribution (committed foragers track richness with slope 0.94) and reaches this allocation dynamically in about 150 steps, though it remains slightly exploitable and does not achieve the exact equilibrium.

By Galen J. Wilkerson
arXiv Machine Learning
Oct 9

Spatial Pattern Formation from Multi-Agent Learning in Public Goods Dilemmas

The study investigates how spatial patterns arise when agents in public goods dilemmas learn movement strategies via tabular Q‑learning. Cooperators tend to cluster around resource peaks, while co‑adaptation with defectors can alter cluster strength and motion, sometimes producing traveling bands. Higher cooperator learning rates combined with lower defector rates lead to the greatest welfare losses, and crowding penalties can mitigate these losses, linking learning rates to spatial organization and collective welfare.

By Yefei Zhang, Yuxuan Zhao