MetaBox: A benchmark platform for meta-black-box optimization with reinforcement learning

• Main Authors: MA, Zeyuan, GUO, Hongshu, CHEN, Jiacheng, LI, Zhenrui, PENG, Guojun, GONG, Yue-Jiao, MA, Yining, Zhiguang CAO
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2023
• Subjects: Databases and Information Systems
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/8404; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/9407/viewcontent/2310.08252.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Recently, Meta-Black-Box Optimization with Reinforcement Learning (MetaBBO-RL) has showcased the power of leveraging RL at the meta-level to mitigate manual fine-tuning of lower-level black-box optimizers. However, this field is hindered by the lack of a unified benchmark. To fill this gap, we introduce MetaBox, the first benchmark platform expressly tailored for developing and evaluating MetaBBO-RL methods. MetaBox offers a flexible algorithmic template that allows users to effortlessly implement their unique designs within the platform. Moreover, it provides a broad spectrum of over 300 problem instances, collected from synthetic to realistic scenarios, and an extensive library of 19 baseline methods, including both traditional black-box optimizers and recent MetaBBO-RL methods. Besides, MetaBox introduces three standardized performance metrics, enabling a more thorough assessment of the methods. In a bid to illustrate the utility of MetaBox for facilitating rigorous evaluation and in-depth analysis, we carry out a wide-ranging benchmarking study on existing MetaBBO-RL methods. Our MetaBox is open-source and accessible at: https://github.com/GMC-DRL/MetaBox.