Visual reinforcement learning (RL), which makes decisions directly from high-dimensional visual inputs, has demonstrated significant potential in various domains. However, deploying visual RL techniques in the real world remains challenging due to their low sample efficiency and large generalization gaps. To tackle these obstacles, data augmentation (DA) has become a widely used technique in visual RL for acquiring sample-efficient and generalizable policies by diversifying the training data. This survey aims to provide a timely and essential review of DA techniques in visual RL in recognition of the thriving development in this field. In particular, we propose a unified framework for analyzing visual RL and understanding the role of DA in it. We then present a principled taxonomy of the existing augmentation techniques used in visual RL and conduct an in-depth discussion on how to better leverage augmented data in different scenarios. Moreover, we report a systematic empirical evaluation of DA-based techniques in visual RL and conclude by highlighting the directions for future research. As the first comprehensive survey of DA in visual RL, this work is expected to offer valuable guidance to this emerging field.

本文提供了关于数据扩增在视觉强化学习中应用的广泛评论。作者提出了一个统一的框架，研究了数据扩增技术在视觉强化学习中的作用，并提供了一些方法来更好地利用扩增数据。最后，作者还通过系统的实证评估，总结了本文的研究内容及未来研究工作的展望。

视觉强化学习中数据增强的全面调查