diff --git a/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_ray.yaml b/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_ray.yaml
index c67b5ed52da..549428a4725 100644
--- a/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_ray.yaml
+++ b/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_ray.yaml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ ray_init_config:
   storage: null
 
 # Device for the forward and backward passes
-local_device: "cuda:0"
+local_device:
 
 # Resources assigned to each IMPALA rollout collection worker
 remote_worker_resources:
diff --git a/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_submitit.yaml b/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_submitit.yaml
index 59973e46b40..4d4332722aa 100644
--- a/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_submitit.yaml
+++ b/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_submitit.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ env:
   env_name: PongNoFrameskip-v4
 
 # Device for the forward and backward passes
-local_device: "cuda:0"
+local_device:
 
 # SLURM config
 slurm_config:
diff --git a/sota-implementations/impala/config_single_node.yaml b/sota-implementations/impala/config_single_node.yaml
index b93c3802a33..655edaddc4e 100644
--- a/sota-implementations/impala/config_single_node.yaml
+++ b/sota-implementations/impala/config_single_node.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ env:
   env_name: PongNoFrameskip-v4
 
 # Device for the forward and backward passes
-device: "cuda:0"
+device:
 
 # collector
 collector:
diff --git a/sota-implementations/impala/impala_multi_node_ray.py b/sota-implementations/impala/impala_multi_node_ray.py
index ba40de1acde..b2b724f6a6d 100644
--- a/sota-implementations/impala/impala_multi_node_ray.py
+++ b/sota-implementations/impala/impala_multi_node_ray.py
@@ -32,7 +32,11 @@ def main(cfg: "DictConfig"):  # noqa: F821
     from torchrl.record.loggers import generate_exp_name, get_logger
     from utils import eval_model, make_env, make_ppo_models
 
-    device = torch.device(cfg.local_device)
+    device = cfg.local_device
+    if not device:
+        device = torch.device("cpu" if not torch.cuda.is_available() else "cuda:0")
+    else:
+        device = torch.device(device)
 
     # Correct for frame_skip
     frame_skip = 4
diff --git a/sota-implementations/impala/impala_multi_node_submitit.py b/sota-implementations/impala/impala_multi_node_submitit.py
index 5f77008a12b..07d38604391 100644
--- a/sota-implementations/impala/impala_multi_node_submitit.py
+++ b/sota-implementations/impala/impala_multi_node_submitit.py
@@ -34,7 +34,11 @@ def main(cfg: "DictConfig"):  # noqa: F821
     from torchrl.record.loggers import generate_exp_name, get_logger
     from utils import eval_model, make_env, make_ppo_models
 
-    device = torch.device(cfg.local_device)
+    device = cfg.local_device
+    if not device:
+        device = torch.device("cpu" if not torch.cuda.is_available() else "cuda:0")
+    else:
+        device = torch.device(device)
 
     # Correct for frame_skip
     frame_skip = 4
diff --git a/sota-implementations/impala/impala_single_node.py b/sota-implementations/impala/impala_single_node.py
index 130d0d30dd7..cd11ae467c3 100644
--- a/sota-implementations/impala/impala_single_node.py
+++ b/sota-implementations/impala/impala_single_node.py
@@ -31,7 +31,11 @@ def main(cfg: "DictConfig"):  # noqa: F821
     from torchrl.record.loggers import generate_exp_name, get_logger
     from utils import eval_model, make_env, make_ppo_models
 
-    device = torch.device(cfg.device)
+    device = cfg.device
+    if not device:
+        device = torch.device("cpu" if not torch.cuda.is_available() else "cuda:0")
+    else:
+        device = torch.device(device)
 
     # Correct for frame_skip
     frame_skip = 4
@@ -55,7 +59,6 @@ def main(cfg: "DictConfig"):  # noqa: F821
 
     # Create models (check utils.py)
     actor, critic = make_ppo_models(cfg.env.env_name)
-    actor, critic = actor.to(device), critic.to(device)
 
     # Create collector
     collector = MultiaSyncDataCollector(