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We present an explicit solution to the discrete-time Bellman equation for minimax optimal control of positive systems under unconstrained disturbances. The primary contribution of our result relies on deducing a bound for the disturbance…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-08-06 Alba Gurpegui , Emma Tegling , Anders Rantzer

We study the Stochastic Shortest Path (SSP) problem for autonomous systems with mixed max-sum cost aggregations under Linear Temporal Logic constraints. Classical SSP formulations rely on sum-aggregated costs, which are suitable for…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-12-16 Zhiquan Zhang , Omar Muhammetkulyyev , Tichakorn Wongpiromsarn , Melkior Ornik

We study the sample complexity of learning an $\epsilon$-optimal policy in the Stochastic Shortest Path (SSP) problem. We first derive sample complexity bounds when the learner has access to a generative model. We show that there exists a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-04-20 Jean Tarbouriech , Matteo Pirotta , Michal Valko , Alessandro Lazaric

We describe a convex programming approach to the calculation of lower bounds on the minimum cost of constrained decentralized control problems with nonclassical information structures. The class of problems we consider entail the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-06-05 Weixuan Lin , Eilyan Bitar

Standard algorithms for finding the shortest path in a graph require that the cost of a path be additive in edge costs, and typically assume that costs are deterministic. We consider the problem of uncertain edge costs, with potential…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2013-02-21 Michael P. Wellman , Matthew Ford , Kenneth Larson

This paper considers an optimization problem for a dynamical system whose evolution depends on a collection of binary decision variables. We develop scalable approximation algorithms with provable suboptimality bounds to provide…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2016-10-31 Insoon Yang , Samuel A. Burden , Ram Rajagopal , S. Shankar Sastry , Claire J. Tomlin

We consider a deterministic optimal control problem with a maximum running cost functional, in a finite horizon context, and propose deep neural network approximations for Bellman's dynamic programming principle, corresponding also to some…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-10-11 Olivier Bokanowski , Xavier Warin , Averil Prost

We give unconditional parameterized complexity lower bounds on pure dynamic programming algorithms - as modeled by tropical circuits - for connectivity problems such as the Traveling Salesperson Problem. Our lower bounds are higher than the…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2025-12-30 Kacper Kluk , Jesper Nederlof

Optimal Transport (OT) is a fundamental tool for comparing probability distributions, but its exact computation remains prohibitive for large datasets. In this work, we introduce novel families of upper and lower bounds for the OT problem…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-10-26 David Alvarez-Melis , Nicolò Fusi , Lester Mackey , Tal Wagner

We study a sequential resource allocation problem motivated by adaptive network recruitment, in which a limited budget of identical resources must be allocated over multiple rounds to individuals with stochastic referral capacity.…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-05-13 Yuqi Pan , Davin Choo , Haichuan Wang , Milind Tambe , Alastair van Heerden , Cheryl Johnson

Practical model building processes are often time-consuming because many different models must be trained and validated. In this paper, we introduce a novel algorithm that can be used for computing the lower and the upper bounds of model…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2014-02-11 Yoshiki Suzuki , Kohei Ogawa , Yuki Shinmura , Ichiro Takeuchi

Planning problems are hard, motion planning, for example, isPSPACE-hard. Such problems are even more difficult in the presence of uncertainty. Although, Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) provide a formal framework for such problems, finding…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2013-01-14 Carlos E. Guestrin , Dirk Ormoneit

This paper considers linear-quadratic control of a non-linear dynamical system subject to arbitrary cost. I show that for this class of stochastic control problems the non-linear Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation can be transformed into a…

General Physics · Physics 2009-11-11 H. J. Kappen

We obtain approximation results for general positive linear operators satisfying mild conditions, when acting on discontinuous functions and absolutely continuous functions having discontinuous derivatives. The upper bounds, given in terms…

Probability · Mathematics 2024-10-29 José A. Adell , P. Garrancho , F. J. Martínez-Sánchez

A new method for stochastic control based on neural networks and using randomisation of discrete random variables is proposed and applied to optimal stopping time problems. The method models directly the policy and does not need the…

Computational Finance · Quantitative Finance 2021-01-11 Thomas Deschatre , Joseph Mikael

The solutions to many sequential decision-making problems are characterized by dynamic programming and Bellman's principle of optimality. However, due to the inherent complexity of solving Bellman's equation exactly, there has been…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2026-03-24 Bowen Li , Edwin K. P. Chong , Ali Pezeshki

We provide a dynamic programming principle for stochastic optimal control problems with expectation constraints. A weak formulation, using test functions and a probabilistic relaxation of the constraint, avoids restrictions related to a…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2012-12-21 Bruno Bouchard , Marcel Nutz

We describe a nonlinear generalization of dual dynamic programming theory and its application to value function estimation for deterministic control problems over continuous state and action spaces, in a discrete-time infinite horizon…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2018-10-05 Joseph Warrington , Paul N. Beuchat , John Lygeros

This paper presents a novel method to synthesize stochastic control Lyapunov functions for a class of nonlinear, stochastic control systems. In this work, the classical nonlinear Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman partial differential equation is…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2016-11-17 Yoke Peng Leong , Matanya B. Horowitz , Joel W. Burdick

Equipping approximate dynamic programming (ADP) with inputconstraints has a tremendous significance. This enables ADP to be applied tothe systems with actuator limitations, which is quite common for dynamicalsystems. In a conventional…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2018-05-24 Xuefeng Bao , Zhi-Hong Mao , Nitin Sharma