Spiking Neural Networks for Continuous Control: Neuromorphic Reinforcement Learning in Conventional Computing

📅 2026-08-23
📈 Citations: 0
Influential: 0
📄 PDF
🤖 AI Summary
研究通过提出一种基于脉冲神经网络的软演员评论家算法(SANSAC),在连续控制任务中验证了其与传统方法相近的性能,探索了脉冲神经网络在强化学习中的应用潜力。
📝 Abstract
Reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms have made strides over the past decade applying them to a wide range of problems and control tasks. However, the deployment of RL on neuromorphic hardware for continuous control tasks remains under-validated. Namely it is unclear whether replacing a conventional actor network with a spiking neural network (SNN) affects the performance of an agent before any hardware-specific benefits manifest. We provide a systematic validation of a minimal, neuromorphically viable spiking actor variant of Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) on conventional hardware, establishing a baseline for future neuromorphic RL research. In this paper, we propose the Spiking Actor Network Soft Actor Critic (SANSAC) to address the use of RL frameworks in continuous environments, designed as a framework that can be implemented on neuromorphic hardware. We compare a traditional Soft Actor Critic (SAC) network to SANSAC in a traditional computer. We demonstrate the near equivalent performance of SANSAC and SAC, while addressing the impact of hidden dimensions. Our results demonstrate the viability of SNN based algorithms in complex continuous environments, as well as competitive performance to traditional neural networks in traditional computers, providing a basis to continue exploring the use of SNNs in continuous RL frameworks.
Problem

Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.

Spiking Neural Networks
Continuous Control
Reinforcement Learning
Neuromorphic Computing
Innovation

Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.

Spiking Neural Networks
Continuous Control
Neuromorphic Reinforcement Learning
Soft Actor-Critic
J
Jessica Hunter
Department of Computer Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
M
Md Maruf Hossain Shuvo
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
K
Krishna Roy
Department of Electrical Engineering, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM 87801, USA