BrainQN: Enhancing the Robustness of Deep Reinforcement Learning with Spiking Neural Networks

As the third-generation network succeeding artificial neural networks (ANNs), spiking neural networks (SNNs) offer high robustness and low energy consumption. Inspired by biological systems, the limitations of low robustness and high-power consumption in deep reinforcement learning (DRL) are addressed by introducing SNNs. The Brain Q-network (BrainQN) is proposed, which replaces the neurons in the classic Deep Q-learning (DQN) algorithm with SNN neurons. BrainQN is trained using surrogate gradient learning (SGL) and ANN-to-SNN conversion methods. Robustness tests with input noise reveal BrainQN's superior performance, achieving an 82.14% increase in rewards under low noise and 71.74% under high noise compared to DQN. These findings highlight BrainQN's robustness and superior performance in noisy environments, supporting its application in complex scenarios. SGL-trained BrainQN is more robust than ANN-to-SNN conversion under high noise. The differences in network output correlations between noisy and original inputs, along with training algorithm distinctions, explain this phenomenon. BrainQN successfully transitioned from a simulated Pong environment to a ball-catching robot with dynamic vision sensors (DVS). On the neuromorphic chip PAICORE, it shows significant advantages in latency and power consumption compared to Jetson Xavier NX.