Related papers: Symbolic Dynamic Programming for Discrete and Cont…
This paper discusses the functional stability of closed-loop Markov Chains under optimal policies resulting from a discounted optimality criterion, forming Markov Decision Processes (MDPs). We investigate the stability of MDPs in the sense…
We consider parametric version of fixed-delay continuous-time Markov chains (or equivalently deterministic and stochastic Petri nets, DSPN) where fixed-delay transitions are specified by parameters, rather than concrete values. Our goal is…
Policies of Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) determine the next action to execute from the current state and, possibly, the history (the past states). When the number of states is large, succinct representations are often used to compactly…
A recent trend in probabilistic inference emphasizes the codification of models in a formal syntax, with suitable high-level features such as individuals, relations, and connectives, enabling descriptive clarity, succinctness and…
We consider the optimal control problem of a general nonlinear spatio-temporal system described by Partial Differential Equations (PDEs). Theory and algorithms for control of spatio-temporal systems are of rising interest among the…
Software-intensive systems, such as software product lines and robotics, utilise Markov decision processes (MDPs) to capture uncertainty and analyse sequential decision-making problems. Despite the usefulness of conventional policy…
Approximate linear programming (ALP) is an efficient approach to solving large factored Markov decision processes (MDPs). The main idea of the method is to approximate the optimal value function by a set of basis functions and optimize…
We study the $(\varepsilon, \delta)$-PAC policy identification problem in finite-horizon episodic Markov Decision Processes. Existing approaches provide finite-time guarantees for approximate settings ($\varepsilon>0$) but suffer from high…
The framework of Integral Quadratic Constraints (IQC) reduces the computation of upper bounds on the convergence rate of several optimization algorithms to a semi-definite program (SDP). In the case of over-relaxed Alternating Direction…
Discrete-time stochastic systems with continuous spaces are hard to verify and control, even with MDP abstractions due to the curse of dimensionality. We propose an abstraction-based framework with robust dynamic programming mappings that…
In this paper, under a general cost function $C$, we present a dynamic programming (DP) method to obtain an optimal sequential deterministic quantizer (SDQ) for $q$-ary input discrete memoryless channel (DMC). The DP method has complexity…
A Budgeted Markov Decision Process (BMDP) is an extension of a Markov Decision Process to critical applications requiring safety constraints. It relies on a notion of risk implemented in the shape of a cost signal constrained to lie below…
Safe operation of systems such as robots requires them to plan and execute trajectories subject to safety constraints. When those systems are subject to uncertainties in their dynamics, it is challenging to ensure that the constraints are…
Many real-world problems come with action spaces represented as feature vectors. Although high-dimensional control is a largely unsolved problem, there has recently been progress for modest dimensionalities. Here we report on a successful…
Constrained decision-making is essential for designing safe policies in real-world control systems, yet simulated environments often fail to capture real-world adversities. We consider the problem of learning a policy that will maximize the…
This paper studies the optimization of Markov decision processes (MDPs) from a risk-seeking perspective, where the risk is measured by conditional value-at-risk (CVaR). The objective is to find a policy that maximizes the long-run CVaR of…
The optimal robot assembly planning problem is challenging due to the necessity of finding the optimal solution amongst an exponentially vast number of possible plans, all while satisfying a selection of constraints. Traditionally, robotic…
Motion planning and control problems are embedded and essential in almost all robotics applications. These problems are often formulated as stochastic optimal control problems and solved using dynamic programming algorithms. Unfortunately,…
We introduce StoDCuP (Stochastic Dynamic Cutting Plane), an extension of the Stochastic Dual Dynamic Programming (SDDP) algorithm to solve multistage stochastic convex optimization problems. At each iteration, the algorithm builds lower…
A novel reinforcement learning scheme to synthesize policies for continuous-space Markov decision processes (MDPs) is proposed. This scheme enables one to apply model-free, off-the-shelf reinforcement learning algorithms for finite MDPs to…