Antonin Raffin
@araffin.bsky.social
Researcher in robotics and machine learning (Reinforcement Learning). Maintainer of Stable-Baselines (SB3).
https://araffin.github.io/
https://araffin.github.io/
Pinned
Antonin Raffin
@araffin.bsky.social
· Oct 24
Post your most popular 🐦 from Twitter
Types of Reinforcement Learning Paper
Original image: @xkcd.com
Types of Reinforcement Learning Paper
Original image: @xkcd.com
"uv is fast because of what it doesn’t do, not because of what language it’s written in"
How did uv get so fast? (Spoiler: not just because it’s written in rust) nesbitt.io/2025/12/26/h...
How uv got so fast
uv’s speed comes from engineering decisions, not just Rust. Static metadata, dropping legacy formats, and standards that didn’t exist five years ago.
nesbitt.io
December 31, 2025 at 4:36 PM
"uv is fast because of what it doesn’t do, not because of what language it’s written in"
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
Using AI coding for data analysis without personal programming skill fills me with dread.
Small errors in the code poisons results in ways that may not be visibly obvious.
LLMs are great when people verify outputs; the path to hell is when they don't.
Small errors in the code poisons results in ways that may not be visibly obvious.
LLMs are great when people verify outputs; the path to hell is when they don't.
December 26, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Using AI coding for data analysis without personal programming skill fills me with dread.
Small errors in the code poisons results in ways that may not be visibly obvious.
LLMs are great when people verify outputs; the path to hell is when they don't.
Small errors in the code poisons results in ways that may not be visibly obvious.
LLMs are great when people verify outputs; the path to hell is when they don't.
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
Hi RL Enthusiasts!
RLC is coming to Montreal, Quebec, in the summer: Aug 16–19, 2026!
Call for Papers is up now:
Abstract: Mar 1 (AOE)
Submission: Mar 5 (AOE)
Excited to see what you’ve been up to - Submit your best work!
rl-conference.cc/callforpaper...
Please share widely!
RLC is coming to Montreal, Quebec, in the summer: Aug 16–19, 2026!
Call for Papers is up now:
Abstract: Mar 1 (AOE)
Submission: Mar 5 (AOE)
Excited to see what you’ve been up to - Submit your best work!
rl-conference.cc/callforpaper...
Please share widely!
RLJ | RLC Call for Papers
rl-conference.cc
December 23, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Hi RL Enthusiasts!
RLC is coming to Montreal, Quebec, in the summer: Aug 16–19, 2026!
Call for Papers is up now:
Abstract: Mar 1 (AOE)
Submission: Mar 5 (AOE)
Excited to see what you’ve been up to - Submit your best work!
rl-conference.cc/callforpaper...
Please share widely!
RLC is coming to Montreal, Quebec, in the summer: Aug 16–19, 2026!
Call for Papers is up now:
Abstract: Mar 1 (AOE)
Submission: Mar 5 (AOE)
Excited to see what you’ve been up to - Submit your best work!
rl-conference.cc/callforpaper...
Please share widely!
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
Almost 5 years in the making... "Hyperparameter Optimization in Machine Learning" is finally out! 📘
We designed this monograph to be self-contained, covering: Grid, Random & Quasi-random search, Bayesian & Multi-fidelity optimization, Gradient-based methods, Meta-learning.
arxiv.org/abs/2410.22854
We designed this monograph to be self-contained, covering: Grid, Random & Quasi-random search, Bayesian & Multi-fidelity optimization, Gradient-based methods, Meta-learning.
arxiv.org/abs/2410.22854
December 17, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Almost 5 years in the making... "Hyperparameter Optimization in Machine Learning" is finally out! 📘
We designed this monograph to be self-contained, covering: Grid, Random & Quasi-random search, Bayesian & Multi-fidelity optimization, Gradient-based methods, Meta-learning.
arxiv.org/abs/2410.22854
We designed this monograph to be self-contained, covering: Grid, Random & Quasi-random search, Bayesian & Multi-fidelity optimization, Gradient-based methods, Meta-learning.
arxiv.org/abs/2410.22854
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
A practical introduction to (deep) RL, providing intuitions to understand the more recent algorithms (continued).
In this second post, I continue from DQN on to the Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) algorithm and its extensions.
araffin.github.io/post/rl103/
In this second post, I continue from DQN on to the Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) algorithm and its extensions.
araffin.github.io/post/rl103/
RL103: From Deep Q-Learning (DQN) to Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) and Beyond | Antonin Raffin | Homepage
This second blog post continues my practical introduction to (deep) reinforcement learning, presenting the main concepts and providing intuitions to understand the more recent Deep RL algorithms.
In a...
araffin.github.io
December 12, 2025 at 5:47 PM
A practical introduction to (deep) RL, providing intuitions to understand the more recent algorithms (continued).
In this second post, I continue from DQN on to the Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) algorithm and its extensions.
araffin.github.io/post/rl103/
In this second post, I continue from DQN on to the Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) algorithm and its extensions.
araffin.github.io/post/rl103/
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
What a phenomenal talk by @jenson.org. He works in a very different slice of tech than I do, but his ethos toward developing tech deeply matches my own, and he articulates it so well.
I highly recommend watching it, regardless of whether you're interested in UX.
I highly recommend watching it, regardless of whether you're interested in UX.
My Ubuntu Summit talk is up! Where I talk about:
1. How Desktop UX is effectively dead
2. Why I hate the term UX/UI with the heat of 1000 suns
3. How OSS can actually innovate in #ux
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fZT...
1. How Desktop UX is effectively dead
2. Why I hate the term UX/UI with the heat of 1000 suns
3. How OSS can actually innovate in #ux
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fZT...
Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? | Ubuntu Summit 25.10
YouTube video by Canonical Ubuntu
www.youtube.com
December 13, 2025 at 7:58 PM
What a phenomenal talk by @jenson.org. He works in a very different slice of tech than I do, but his ethos toward developing tech deeply matches my own, and he articulates it so well.
I highly recommend watching it, regardless of whether you're interested in UX.
I highly recommend watching it, regardless of whether you're interested in UX.
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
antonin has been cooking olala
A practical introduction to (deep) RL, providing intuitions to understand the more recent algorithms (continued).
In this second post, I continue from DQN on to the Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) algorithm and its extensions.
araffin.github.io/post/rl103/
In this second post, I continue from DQN on to the Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) algorithm and its extensions.
araffin.github.io/post/rl103/
RL103: From Deep Q-Learning (DQN) to Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) and Beyond | Antonin Raffin | Homepage
This second blog post continues my practical introduction to (deep) reinforcement learning, presenting the main concepts and providing intuitions to understand the more recent Deep RL algorithms.
In a...
araffin.github.io
December 12, 2025 at 6:40 PM
antonin has been cooking olala
A practical introduction to (deep) RL, providing intuitions to understand the more recent algorithms (continued).
In this second post, I continue from DQN on to the Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) algorithm and its extensions.
araffin.github.io/post/rl103/
In this second post, I continue from DQN on to the Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) algorithm and its extensions.
araffin.github.io/post/rl103/
RL103: From Deep Q-Learning (DQN) to Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) and Beyond | Antonin Raffin | Homepage
This second blog post continues my practical introduction to (deep) reinforcement learning, presenting the main concepts and providing intuitions to understand the more recent Deep RL algorithms.
In a...
araffin.github.io
December 12, 2025 at 5:47 PM
A practical introduction to (deep) RL, providing intuitions to understand the more recent algorithms (continued).
In this second post, I continue from DQN on to the Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) algorithm and its extensions.
araffin.github.io/post/rl103/
In this second post, I continue from DQN on to the Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) algorithm and its extensions.
araffin.github.io/post/rl103/
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
🚀 We just shipped v0.216.0!
Word-level diffing just landed. 🎉
It's been a night-and-day difference for us—seeing exactly what changed within each line.
Word-level diffing just landed. 🎉
It's been a night-and-day difference for us—seeing exactly what changed within each line.
December 10, 2025 at 5:16 PM
🚀 We just shipped v0.216.0!
Word-level diffing just landed. 🎉
It's been a night-and-day difference for us—seeing exactly what changed within each line.
Word-level diffing just landed. 🎉
It's been a night-and-day difference for us—seeing exactly what changed within each line.
An intuitive introduction to flow matching, ICLR 2025 best blog post: iclr-blogposts.github.io/2025/blog/fl...
December 8, 2025 at 6:22 PM
An intuitive introduction to flow matching, ICLR 2025 best blog post: iclr-blogposts.github.io/2025/blog/fl...
New in Stable-Baselines3 documentation: a full example on how to export a trained RL agent to run in the browser, using ONNX and ONNX Runtime Web (JS).
Demo: jonathancoletti.github.io/CarDodgingGym/
Documentation: stable-baselines3.readthedocs.io/en/master/gu...
Demo: jonathancoletti.github.io/CarDodgingGym/
Documentation: stable-baselines3.readthedocs.io/en/master/gu...
December 5, 2025 at 5:39 PM
New in Stable-Baselines3 documentation: a full example on how to export a trained RL agent to run in the browser, using ONNX and ONNX Runtime Web (JS).
Demo: jonathancoletti.github.io/CarDodgingGym/
Documentation: stable-baselines3.readthedocs.io/en/master/gu...
Demo: jonathancoletti.github.io/CarDodgingGym/
Documentation: stable-baselines3.readthedocs.io/en/master/gu...
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
🎤 Announcing the 3rd workshop on Reinforcement Learning in Mannheim 🎤
We have an amazing lineup of speakers: @Mathieugeist, @gio_ramponi, Theresa Eimer, @SarahKeren_, @araffin2, @c_rothkopf, and @AdrienBolland
⏰ Friday 6th February
📍University of Mannheim
We have an amazing lineup of speakers: @Mathieugeist, @gio_ramponi, Theresa Eimer, @SarahKeren_, @araffin2, @c_rothkopf, and @AdrienBolland
⏰ Friday 6th February
📍University of Mannheim
December 2, 2025 at 11:45 AM
🎤 Announcing the 3rd workshop on Reinforcement Learning in Mannheim 🎤
We have an amazing lineup of speakers: @Mathieugeist, @gio_ramponi, Theresa Eimer, @SarahKeren_, @araffin2, @c_rothkopf, and @AdrienBolland
⏰ Friday 6th February
📍University of Mannheim
We have an amazing lineup of speakers: @Mathieugeist, @gio_ramponi, Theresa Eimer, @SarahKeren_, @araffin2, @c_rothkopf, and @AdrienBolland
⏰ Friday 6th February
📍University of Mannheim
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
Exciting workshop for RL enthusiasts in Mannheim! 👇
Workshop on Reinforcement Learning 2026, taking place on 𝐅𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔, at the 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐦, Germany.
Participation in the workshop is 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞!
Check the program and register: www.wim.uni-mannheim.de/doering/conf...
Workshop on Reinforcement Learning 2026, taking place on 𝐅𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔, at the 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐦, Germany.
Participation in the workshop is 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞!
Check the program and register: www.wim.uni-mannheim.de/doering/conf...
November 25, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Exciting workshop for RL enthusiasts in Mannheim! 👇
Workshop on Reinforcement Learning 2026, taking place on 𝐅𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔, at the 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐦, Germany.
Participation in the workshop is 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞!
Check the program and register: www.wim.uni-mannheim.de/doering/conf...
Workshop on Reinforcement Learning 2026, taking place on 𝐅𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔, at the 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐦, Germany.
Participation in the workshop is 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞!
Check the program and register: www.wim.uni-mannheim.de/doering/conf...
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
TMLR (@tmlrorg.bsky.social) is now proud to support interactive HTML-based submissions, going "Beyond PDF" -- check it out!
Thanks to Paul Vicol (@paulvicol.bsky.social) for his tireless work on this new option, as well as the OpenReview team.
Thanks to Paul Vicol (@paulvicol.bsky.social) for his tireless work on this new option, as well as the OpenReview team.
🚀 Introducing TMLR Beyond PDF!
🎬 This is a new, HTML-based submission format for TMLR, that supports interactive figures and videos, along with the usual LaTeX and images.
🎉 Thanks to TMLR Editors in Chief: Hugo Larochelle, @gautamkamath.com, Naila Murray, Nihar B. Shah, and Laurent Charlin!
🎬 This is a new, HTML-based submission format for TMLR, that supports interactive figures and videos, along with the usual LaTeX and images.
🎉 Thanks to TMLR Editors in Chief: Hugo Larochelle, @gautamkamath.com, Naila Murray, Nihar B. Shah, and Laurent Charlin!
November 25, 2025 at 4:14 PM
TMLR (@tmlrorg.bsky.social) is now proud to support interactive HTML-based submissions, going "Beyond PDF" -- check it out!
Thanks to Paul Vicol (@paulvicol.bsky.social) for his tireless work on this new option, as well as the OpenReview team.
Thanks to Paul Vicol (@paulvicol.bsky.social) for his tireless work on this new option, as well as the OpenReview team.
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
Wow. The backlash to the 1X Neo announcement has been widespread and *merciless*.
This may be a warning to lots of humanoids companies. All your promises don’t matter to the public if your robot looks or acts dumb.
youtu.be/b_SNExtznd4?...
This may be a warning to lots of humanoids companies. All your promises don’t matter to the public if your robot looks or acts dumb.
youtu.be/b_SNExtznd4?...
Ronny Chieng Meets Neo, the World’s Stupidest Robot Maid | The Daily Show
YouTube video by The Daily Show
youtu.be
October 31, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Wow. The backlash to the 1X Neo announcement has been widespread and *merciless*.
This may be a warning to lots of humanoids companies. All your promises don’t matter to the public if your robot looks or acts dumb.
youtu.be/b_SNExtznd4?...
This may be a warning to lots of humanoids companies. All your promises don’t matter to the public if your robot looks or acts dumb.
youtu.be/b_SNExtznd4?...
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
Why self-taught engineers often outperform
michaelbastos.com/blog/why-sel...
#programming #softwaredevelopment #tech #blog
michaelbastos.com/blog/why-sel...
#programming #softwaredevelopment #tech #blog
michaelbastos.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Why self-taught engineers often outperform
michaelbastos.com/blog/why-sel...
#programming #softwaredevelopment #tech #blog
michaelbastos.com/blog/why-sel...
#programming #softwaredevelopment #tech #blog
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
🚨The Formalism-Implementation Gap in RL research🚨
Lots of progress in RL research over last 10 years, but too much performance-driven => overfitting to benchmarks (like the ALE).
1⃣ Let's advance science of RL
2⃣ Let's be explicit about how benchmarks map to formalism
1/X
Lots of progress in RL research over last 10 years, but too much performance-driven => overfitting to benchmarks (like the ALE).
1⃣ Let's advance science of RL
2⃣ Let's be explicit about how benchmarks map to formalism
1/X
October 28, 2025 at 1:56 PM
🚨The Formalism-Implementation Gap in RL research🚨
Lots of progress in RL research over last 10 years, but too much performance-driven => overfitting to benchmarks (like the ALE).
1⃣ Let's advance science of RL
2⃣ Let's be explicit about how benchmarks map to formalism
1/X
Lots of progress in RL research over last 10 years, but too much performance-driven => overfitting to benchmarks (like the ALE).
1⃣ Let's advance science of RL
2⃣ Let's be explicit about how benchmarks map to formalism
1/X
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
🚨 New blog post alert!
Modern package management for Robotics with Pixi!
prefix.dev/blog/reprod...
#ROS #ROSCon #ROSCon2025
Modern package management for Robotics with Pixi!
prefix.dev/blog/reprod...
#ROS #ROSCon #ROSCon2025
Pixi: Modern package management for Robotics
Developing Robots is hard; Pixi makes it easier by creating reproducible, cross-platform ROS development environments without Docker or Ubuntu lock-in.
prefix.dev
October 24, 2025 at 3:34 PM
🚨 New blog post alert!
Modern package management for Robotics with Pixi!
prefix.dev/blog/reprod...
#ROS #ROSCon #ROSCon2025
Modern package management for Robotics with Pixi!
prefix.dev/blog/reprod...
#ROS #ROSCon #ROSCon2025
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
What if we did a single run and declared victory
October 23, 2025 at 2:28 AM
What if we did a single run and declared victory
A wonderful collection of spurious correlations, correlation is not causation.
link: www.tylervigen.com/spurious-cor...
found via @stefanjudis.com newsletter
link: www.tylervigen.com/spurious-cor...
found via @stefanjudis.com newsletter
October 21, 2025 at 5:44 AM
A wonderful collection of spurious correlations, correlation is not causation.
link: www.tylervigen.com/spurious-cor...
found via @stefanjudis.com newsletter
link: www.tylervigen.com/spurious-cor...
found via @stefanjudis.com newsletter
A good video on software refactoring and redesign (about the Audacity audio editing program)
October 20, 2025 at 10:20 AM
A good video on software refactoring and redesign (about the Audacity audio editing program)
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
Video recordings of CORL 2025 talks now available! Many interesting orals / keynotes / sponsor talks / early-career talks / poster spotlights.
Day 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Use5...
Day 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh2o...
Day 3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lzF...
Day 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Use5...
Day 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh2o...
Day 3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lzF...
CORL 2025
YouTube video by Conference on Robot Learning
www.youtube.com
October 17, 2025 at 5:31 AM
Video recordings of CORL 2025 talks now available! Many interesting orals / keynotes / sponsor talks / early-career talks / poster spotlights.
Day 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Use5...
Day 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh2o...
Day 3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lzF...
Day 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Use5...
Day 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh2o...
Day 3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lzF...
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
In our little deep dive series we're now exploring how cross-compilation in the Conda ecosystem works: prefix.dev/blog/cross-c.... Back in the days, @conda-forge.org rolled this out widely to support osx-arm64 early on, and now for linux-aarch64/ppc64le.
Cross compiling in the Conda ecosystem
Cross compiling is a fundamental capability in modern software development, allowing developers to build packages for different architectures without needing access to the target hardware.
prefix.dev
October 15, 2025 at 6:11 AM
In our little deep dive series we're now exploring how cross-compilation in the Conda ecosystem works: prefix.dev/blog/cross-c.... Back in the days, @conda-forge.org rolled this out widely to support osx-arm64 early on, and now for linux-aarch64/ppc64le.
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
Rapid RL experimentation is great. But how do you catch silent errors before they slip by?
In this post, I share tools and habits that help me move quickly from idea to result without sacrificing reliability.
In this post, I share tools and habits that help me move quickly from idea to result without sacrificing reliability.
How to catch subtle RL bugs before they catch you
Tools and habits for reliable, fast RL experimentation and development
open.substack.com
October 13, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Rapid RL experimentation is great. But how do you catch silent errors before they slip by?
In this post, I share tools and habits that help me move quickly from idea to result without sacrificing reliability.
In this post, I share tools and habits that help me move quickly from idea to result without sacrificing reliability.
Reposted by Antonin Raffin
Ever since I made a video about Fourier Transforms, one of the most requested topics on the channel has been its close cousin, the Laplace Transform.
I've been having a lot of fun animating a mini-series about this topic, and the main part is now out.
youtu.be/j0wJBEZdwLs
I've been having a lot of fun animating a mini-series about this topic, and the main part is now out.
youtu.be/j0wJBEZdwLs
But what is a Laplace Transform?
YouTube video by 3Blue1Brown
youtu.be
October 12, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Ever since I made a video about Fourier Transforms, one of the most requested topics on the channel has been its close cousin, the Laplace Transform.
I've been having a lot of fun animating a mini-series about this topic, and the main part is now out.
youtu.be/j0wJBEZdwLs
I've been having a lot of fun animating a mini-series about this topic, and the main part is now out.
youtu.be/j0wJBEZdwLs