Related papers: Path Integral Policy Improvement with Covariance M…
This tutorial introduces the CMA Evolution Strategy (ES), where CMA stands for Covariance Matrix Adaptation. The CMA-ES is a stochastic, or randomized, method for real-parameter (continuous domain) optimization of non-linear, non-convex…
Importance sampling (IS) represents a fundamental technique for a large surge of off-policy reinforcement learning approaches. Policy gradient (PG) methods, in particular, significantly benefit from IS, enabling the effective reuse of…
Power iteration has been generalized to solve many interesting problems in machine learning and statistics. Despite its striking success, theoretical understanding of when and how such an algorithm enjoys good convergence property is…
In reinforcement learning (RL), exploiting environmental symmetries can significantly enhance efficiency, robustness, and performance. However, ensuring that the deep RL policy and value networks are respectively equivariant and invariant…
We propose a method for finding approximate compilations of quantum unitary transformations, based on techniques from policy gradient reinforcement learning. The choice of a stochastic policy allows us to rephrase the optimization problem…
In this paper we investigate the convergence of the Policy Iteration Algorithm (PIA) for a class of general continuous-time entropy-regularized stochastic control problems. In particular, instead of employing sophisticated PDE estimates for…
This paper is concerned with the error analysis of two types of sampling algorithms, namely model predictive path integral (MPPI) and an interacting particle system (\IPS) algorithm, that have been proposed in the literature for numerical…
In tabular case, when the reward and environment dynamics are known, policy evaluation can be written as $\bm{V}_{\bm{\pi}} = (I - \gamma P_{\bm{\pi}})^{-1} \bm{r}_{\bm{\pi}}$, where $P_{\bm{\pi}}$ is the state transition matrix given…
Reinforcement Learning, particularly through policy gradient methods, has played a central role in enabling reasoning capabilities of Large Language Models. However, the optimization stability of policy gradients in this setting remains…
Proximal policy optimization (PPO) is one of the most successful deep reinforcement-learning methods, achieving state-of-the-art performance across a wide range of challenging tasks. However, its optimization behavior is still far from…
In this paper, a new metaheuristic optimization algorithm, called Path Construction Imitation Algorithm (PCIA), is proposed. PCIA is inspired by how humans construct new paths and use them. Typically, humans prefer popular transportation…
Classical proportional--integral--derivative (PID) control is widely employed in industrial applications; however, achieving higher performance often motivates the adoption of model predictive control (MPC). Although gradient-based methods…
In this paper, we consider a class of continuous-time, continuous-space stochastic optimal control problems. Building upon recent advances in Markov chain approximation methods and sampling-based algorithms for deterministic path planning,…
In this paper we develop a Model Predictive Path Integral (MPPI) control algorithm based on a generalized importance sampling scheme and perform parallel optimization via sampling using a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). The proposed…
Policy iteration is one of the classical frameworks of reinforcement learning, which requires a known initial stabilizing control. However, finding the initial stabilizing control depends on the known system model. To relax this requirement…
Most of the policy evaluation algorithms are based on the theories of Bellman Expectation and Optimality Equation, which derive two popular approaches - Policy Iteration (PI) and Value Iteration (VI). However, multi-step bootstrapping is…
Assistive robots interact with humans and must adapt to different users' preferences to be effective. An easy and effective technique to learn non-expert users' preferences is through rankings of robot behaviors, for example, robot movement…
The question of knowing whether the policy Iteration algorithm (PI) for solving Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) has exponential or (strongly) polynomial complexity has attracted much attention in the last 50 years. Recently, Fearnley…
This article introduces an imitation learning method for learning maximum entropy policies that comply with constraints demonstrated by expert trajectories executing a task. The formulation of the method takes advantage of results…
In this article, we discuss two algorithms tailored to discrete-time deterministic finite-horizon nonlinear optimal control problems or so-called deterministic trajectory optimization problems. Both algorithms can be derived from an…