RIME: Robust Preference-based Reinforcement Learning with Noisy Preferences

Preference-based Reinforcement Learning (PbRL) avoids the need for reward engineering by harnessing human preferences as the reward signal. However, current PbRL algorithms over-reliance on high-quality feedback from domain experts, which results in a lack of robustness. In this paper, we present RIME, a robust PbRL algorithm for effective reward learning from noisy preferences. Our method incorporates a sample selection-based discriminator to dynamically filter denoised preferences for robust training. To mitigate the accumulated error caused by incorrect selection, we propose to warm start the reward model, which additionally bridges the performance gap during transition from pre-training to online training in PbRL. Our experiments on robotic manipulation and locomotion tasks demonstrate that RIME significantly enhances the robustness of the current state-of-the-art PbRL method. Ablation studies further demonstrate that the warm start is crucial for both robustness and feedback-efficiency in limited-feedback cases.