Related papers: Optimal Limited Contingency Planning
We study a Markov decision problem in which the state space is the set of finite marked point configurations in the plane, the actions represent thinnings, the reward is proportional to the mark sum which is discounted over time, and the…
We propose a information theoretical framework to capture transition and information costs of network navigation models. Based on the minimum description length principle and the Markov decision process, we demonstrate that efficient global…
We consider optimal route planning when the objective function is a general nonlinear and non-monotonic function. Such an objective models user behavior more accurately, for example, when a user is risk-averse, or the utility function needs…
This paper considers an opportunistic scheduling problem over a renewal system. A controller observes a random event at the beginning of each renewal frame and then chooses an action in response to the event, which affects the duration of…
Designing a safe policy for uncertain environments is crucial in real-world control systems. However, this challenge remains inadequately addressed within the Markov decision process (MDP) framework. This paper presents the first algorithm…
We analyze a tree search problem with an underlying Markov decision process, in which the goal is to identify the best action at the root that achieves the highest cumulative reward. We present a new tree policy that optimally allocates a…
This paper deals with the general discounted impulse control problem of a piecewise deterministic Markov process. We investigate a new family of epsilon-optimal strategies. The construction of such strategies is explicit and only…
This study deals with the problem of task and motion planning of autonomous systems within the context of high-level tasks. Specifically, a task comprises logical requirements (conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations) on the trajectories…
We propose a model for path-planning based on a single performance metric that accurately accounts for the the potential (spatially inhomogeneous) cost of breakdowns and repairs. These random breakdowns (or system faults) happen at a known,…
We study continuous action reinforcement learning problems in which it is crucial that the agent interacts with the environment only through safe policies, i.e.,~policies that do not take the agent to undesirable situations. We formulate…
The parameters for a Markov Decision Process (MDP) often cannot be specified exactly. Uncertain MDPs (UMDPs) capture this model ambiguity by defining sets which the parameters belong to. Minimax regret has been proposed as an objective for…
Policy optimization methods with function approximation are widely used in multi-agent reinforcement learning. However, it remains elusive how to design such algorithms with statistical guarantees. Leveraging a multi-agent performance…
Attention control is a key cognitive ability for humans to select information relevant to the current task. This paper develops a computational model of attention and an algorithm for attention-based probabilistic planning in Markov…
We investigate the problem of synthesizing optimal control policies for Markov decision processes (MDPs) with both qualitative and quantitative objectives. Specifically, our goal is to achieve a given linear temporal logic (LTL) task with…
This paper considers global optimization with a black-box unknown objective function that can be non-convex and non-differentiable. Such a difficult optimization problem arises in many real-world applications, such as parameter tuning in…
This paper offers a methodological contribution at the intersection of machine learning and operations research. Namely, we propose a methodology to quickly predict tactical solutions to a given operational problem. In this context, the…
Generating optimal plans in highly dynamic environments is challenging. Plans are predicated on an assumed initial state, but this state can change unexpectedly during plan generation, potentially invalidating the planning effort. In this…
Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs) provide an efficient way to model real-world sequential decision making processes. Motivated by the problem of maintenance and inspection of a group of infrastructure components with…
A number of problems in relational Artificial Intelligence can be viewed as Stochastic Constraint Optimization Problems (SCOPs). These are constraint optimization problems that involve objectives or constraints with a stochastic component.…
Long-run average optimization problems for Markov decision processes (MDPs) require constructing policies with optimal steady-state behavior, i.e., optimal limit frequency of visits to the states. However, such policies may suffer from…