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Related papers: Mean-Variance Policy Iteration for Risk-Averse Rei…

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A risk-averse preview-based $Q$-learning planner is presented for navigation of autonomous vehicles. To this end, the multi-lane road ahead of a vehicle is represented by a finite-state non-stationary Markov decision process (MDP). A risk…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2022-10-19 Majid Mazouchi , Subramanya Nageshrao , Hamidreza Modares

This paper analyzes reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms for Markov decision processes (MDPs) under the average-reward criterion. We focus on Q-learning algorithms based on relative value iteration (RVI), which are model-free stochastic…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-08-30 Yi Wan , Huizhen Yu , Richard S. Sutton

We show two average-reward off-policy control algorithms, Differential Q-learning (Wan, Naik, & Sutton 2021a) and RVI Q-learning (Abounadi Bertsekas & Borkar 2001), converge in weakly communicating MDPs. Weakly communicating MDPs are the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-11-08 Yi Wan , Richard S. Sutton

Markov decision processes (MDPs) are used to model stochastic systems in many applications. Several efficient algorithms to compute optimal policies have been studied in the literature, including value iteration (VI) and policy iteration.…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-08-30 Vineet Goyal , Julien Grand-Clement

Multi-step temporal difference (TD) learning is an important approach in reinforcement learning, as it unifies one-step TD learning with Monte Carlo methods in a way where intermediate algorithms can outperform either extreme. They address…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2018-09-10 Kristopher De Asis , Richard S. Sutton

This paper introduces two novel modifications to the Dynamic sAmpling Policy Optimization (DAPO) algorithm [1], approached from a mixed-policy perspective. Standard policy gradient methods can suffer from instability and sample…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-08-20 Hongze Tan , Yuchen Li

In many sequential decision-making problems one is interested in minimizing an expected cumulative cost while taking into account \emph{risk}, i.e., increased awareness of events of small probability and high consequences. Accordingly, the…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2017-04-07 Yinlam Chow , Mohammad Ghavamzadeh , Lucas Janson , Marco Pavone

We consider an optimal investment and risk control problem for an insurer under the mean-variance (MV) criterion. By introducing a deterministic auxiliary process defined forward in time, we formulate an alternative time-consistent problem…

Portfolio Management · Quantitative Finance 2021-01-12 Yang Shen , Bin Zou

We study the problem of learning optimal policies in finite-horizon Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) using low-rank reinforcement learning (RL) methods. In finite-horizon MDPs, the policies, and therefore the value functions (VFs) are not…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-05-14 Sergio Rozada , Jose Luis Orejuela , Antonio G. Marques

This paper addresses the problem of model-free reinforcement learning for Robust Markov Decision Process (RMDP) with large state spaces. The goal of the RMDP framework is to find a policy that is robust against the parameter uncertainties…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-02-15 Kishan Panaganti , Dileep Kalathil

We study the problem of model-free reinforcement learning, which is often solved following the principle of Generalized Policy Iteration (GPI). While GPI is typically an interplay between policy evaluation and policy improvement, most…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-02-28 Changnan Xiao , Haosen Shi , Jiajun Fan , Shihong Deng , Haiyan Yin

Risk averse decision making under uncertainty in partially observable domains is a fundamental problem in AI and essential for reliable autonomous agents. In our case, the problem is modeled using partially observable Markov decision…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2024-06-11 Yaacov Pariente , Vadim Indelman

Conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) is a prominent risk measure in financial engineering, energy systems, and supply chain management. In these domains, Markov decision processes (MDPs) with a long-run CVaR criterion effectively mitigate cost…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-03-11 Qixin Wang , Hao Cao , Jian-Qiang Hu , Mingjie Hu , Li Xia

Markov decision processes (MDPs) are a popular model for performance analysis and optimization of stochastic systems. The parameters of stochastic behavior of MDPs are estimates from empirical observations of a system; their values are not…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2017-10-26 Dimitri Scheftelowitsch , Peter Buchholz , Vahid Hashemi , Holger Hermanns

We present a model-free reinforcement learning algorithm to find an optimal policy for a finite-horizon Markov decision process while guaranteeing a desired lower bound on the probability of satisfying a signal temporal logic (STL)…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2021-09-29 Krishna C. Kalagarla , Rahul Jain , Pierluigi Nuzzo

Policy evaluation is an important instrument for the comparison of different algorithms in Reinforcement Learning (RL). However, even a precise knowledge of the value function $V^{\pi}$ corresponding to a policy $\pi$ does not provide…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-01-21 Denis Belomestny , Ilya Levin , Alexey Naumov , Sergey Samsonov

Safety in stochastic control systems, which are subject to random noise with a known probability distribution, aims to compute policies that satisfy predefined operational constraints with high confidence throughout the uncertain evolution…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-11-12 Saber Omidi , Marek Petrik , Se Young Yoon , Momotaz Begum

We study infinite horizon discounted Mean Field Control (MFC) problems with common noise through the lens of Mean Field Markov Decision Processes (MFMDP). We allow the agents to use actions that are randomized not only at the individual…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-10-14 René Carmona , Mathieu Laurière , Zongjun Tan

This work shows that value-aware model learning, known for its numerous theoretical benefits, is also practically viable for solving challenging continuous control tasks in prevalent model-based reinforcement learning algorithms. First, we…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-01-31 Nirbhay Modhe , Harish Kamath , Dhruv Batra , Ashwin Kalyan

We propose and study a general framework for regularized Markov decision processes (MDPs) where the goal is to find an optimal policy that maximizes the expected discounted total reward plus a policy regularization term. The extant…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2019-10-22 Xiang Li , Wenhao Yang , Zhihua Zhang