English
Related papers

Related papers: A Simple Algorithm for Solving Ramsey Optimal Poli…

200 papers

A sequential quadratic programming method is designed for solving general smooth nonlinear stochastic optimization problems subject to expectation equality constraints. We consider the setting where the objective and constraint function…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-03-17 Haoming Shen , Yang Zeng , Baoyu Zhou

We propose a novel reformulation of the stochastic optimal control problem as an approximate inference problem, demonstrating, that such a interpretation leads to new practical methods for the original problem. In particular we characterise…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2010-09-22 Konrad Rawlik , Marc Toussaint , Sethu Vijayakumar

We present a generic strategy iteration algorithm (GSIA) to find an optimal strategy of a simple stochastic game (SSG). We prove the correctness of GSIA, and derive a general complexity bound, which implies and improves on the results of…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2021-07-09 D. Auger , X. Badin de Montjoye , Y. Strozecki

In this paper, we study the problem of multiple stochastic agents interacting in a dynamic game scenario with continuous state and action spaces. We define a new notion of stochastic Nash equilibrium for boundedly rational agents, which we…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-10-05 Negar Mehr , Mingyu Wang , Mac Schwager

This paper studies the continuous-time reinforcement learning (RL) for optimal switching problems across multiple regimes. We consider a type of exploratory formulation under entropy regularization where the agent randomizes both the timing…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-12-23 Yijie Huang , Mengge Li , Xiang Yu , Zhou Zhou

Reinforcement learning algorithms are typically geared towards optimizing the expected return of an agent. However, in many practical applications, low variance in the return is desired to ensure the reliability of an algorithm. In this…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-02-04 Arushi Jain , Gandharv Patil , Ayush Jain , Khimya Khetarpal , Doina Precup

Evolutionary algorithms have been used to evolve a population of actors to generate diverse experiences for training reinforcement learning agents, which helps to tackle the temporal credit assignment problem and improves the exploration…

Neural and Evolutionary Computing · Computer Science 2023-04-21 Chengpeng Hu , Jiyuan Pei , Jialin Liu , Xin Yao

We present and analyze an algorithm designed for addressing vector-valued regression problems involving possibly infinite-dimensional input and output spaces. The algorithm is a randomized adaptation of reduced rank regression, a technique…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-01-01 Giacomo Turri , Vladimir Kostic , Pietro Novelli , Massimiliano Pontil

This paper studies decentralized convex-concave minimax optimization problems of the form $\min_x\max_y f(x,y) \triangleq\frac{1}{m}\sum_{i=1}^m f_i(x,y)$, where $m$ is the number of agents and each local function can be written as…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-02-15 Luo Luo , Haishan Ye

The dependency of the actor on the critic in actor-critic (AC) reinforcement learning means that AC can be characterized as a bilevel optimization (BLO) problem, also called a Stackelberg game. This characterization motivates two…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-03-19 Arjun Prakash , Naicheng He , Denizalp Goktas , Jacob Makar-Limanov , Amy Greenwald

This paper studies policy optimization algorithms for multi-agent reinforcement learning. We begin by proposing an algorithm framework for two-player zero-sum Markov Games in the full-information setting, where each iteration consists of a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-07-26 Runyu Zhang , Qinghua Liu , Huan Wang , Caiming Xiong , Na Li , Yu Bai

In the classical optimal stopping problem, a player is given a sequence of random variables $X_1\ldots X_n$ with known distributions. After observing the realization of $X_i$, the player can either accept the observed reward from $X_i$ and…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2020-07-24 Shipra Agrawal , Jay Sethuraman , Xingyu Zhang

Improving sample efficiency has been a longstanding goal in reinforcement learning. This paper proposes $\mathtt{VRMPO}$ algorithm: a sample efficient policy gradient method with stochastic mirror descent. In $\mathtt{VRMPO}$, a novel…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-02-10 Long Yang , Yu Zhang , Gang Zheng , Qian Zheng , Pengfei Li , Jianhang Huang , Jun Wen , Gang Pan

We develop an optimization framework centered around a core idea: once a (parametric) policy is specified, control authority is transferred to the policy, resulting in an autonomous dynamical system. Thus we should be able to optimize…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-06-11 Emo Todorov

To overcome the sim-to-real gap in reinforcement learning (RL), learned policies must maintain robustness against environmental uncertainties. While robust RL has been widely studied in single-agent regimes, in multi-agent environments, the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-05-10 Laixi Shi , Eric Mazumdar , Yuejie Chi , Adam Wierman

Stochastic policies (also known as relaxed controls) are widely used in continuous-time reinforcement learning algorithms. However, executing a stochastic policy and evaluating its performance in a continuous-time environment remain open…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-10-03 Yanwei Jia , Du Ouyang , Yufei Zhang

Two algorithms are proposed, analyzed, and tested for solving continuous optimization problems with nonlinear equality constraints. Each is an extension of a stochastic momentum-based method from the unconstrained setting to the setting of…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-01-21 Qi Wang , Christian Piermarini , Yunlang Zhu , Frank E. Curtis

Stabilizing an unknown control system is one of the most fundamental problems in control systems engineering. In this paper, we provide a simple, model-free algorithm for stabilizing fully observed dynamical systems. While model-free…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2021-10-14 Juan C. Perdomo , Jack Umenberger , Max Simchowitz

Stochastic dynamic teams and games are rich models for decentralized systems and challenging testing grounds for multi-agent learning. Previous work that guaranteed team optimality assumed stateless dynamics, or an explicit coordination…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-03-28 Bora Yongacoglu , Gürdal Arslan , Serdar Yüksel

Traditional control theory-based methods require tailored engineering for each system and constant fine-tuning. In power plant control, one often needs to obtain a precise representation of the system dynamics and carefully design the…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2024-09-21 Yixuan Sun , Sami Khairy , Richard B. Vilim , Rui Hu , Akshay J. Dave