English
Related papers

Related papers: Simulation Based Algorithms for Markov Decision Pr…

200 papers

We consider a general multi-armed bandit problem with correlated (and simple contextual and restless) elements, as a relaxed control problem. By introducing an entropy regularisation, we obtain a smooth asymptotic approximation to the value…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-09-07 Samuel N. Cohen , Tanut Treetanthiploet

In this paper, we consider the stochastic multi-armed bandits problem with adversarial corruptions, where the random rewards of the arms are partially modified by an adversary to fool the algorithm. We apply the policy gradient algorithm…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-02-21 Jiayuan Liu , Siwei Wang , Zhixuan Fang

The classical multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem involves a learner and a collection of K independent arms, each with its own ex ante unknown independent reward distribution. At each one of a finite number of rounds, the learner selects one…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-05-07 Hongda Hu , Arthur Charpentier , Mario Ghossoub , Alexander Schied

We consider the problem of maximizing the expected average reward obtained over an infinite time horizon by $n$ weakly coupled Markov decision processes. Our setup is a substantial generalization of the multi-armed restless bandit problem…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-04-01 Diego Goldsztajn , Konstantin Avrachenkov

Multi-Armed Bandit (MAB) algorithms are widely used in recommender systems that require continuous, incremental learning. A core aspect of MABs is the exploration-exploitation trade-off: choosing between exploiting items likely to be…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-04-20 Pedro R. Pires , Gregorio F. Azevedo , Pietro L. Campos , Rafael T. Sereicikas , Tiago A. Almeida

We study the multi-armed bandit problem where the rewards are realizations of general non-stationary stochastic processes, a setting that generalizes many existing lines of work and analyses. In particular, we present a theoretical analysis…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-09-04 Corinna Cortes , Giulia DeSalvo , Vitaly Kuznetsov , Mehryar Mohri , Scott Yang

We consider an extension to the restless multi-armed bandit (RMAB) problem with unknown arm dynamics, where an unknown exogenous global Markov process governs the rewards distribution of each arm. Under each global state, the rewards…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-10-11 Tomer Gafni , Michal Yemini , Kobi Cohen

Motivated by a broad class of mobile intervention problems, we propose and study restless multi-armed bandits (RMABs) with network effects. In our model, arms are partially recharging and connected through a graph, so that pulling one arm…

Online platforms routinely compare multi-armed bandit algorithms, such as UCB and Thompson Sampling, to select the best-performing policy. Unlike standard A/B tests for static treatments, each run of a bandit algorithm over $T$ users…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-04-14 Huiling Meng , Ningyuan Chen , Xuefeng Gao

Motivated by time-sensitive e-service applications, we consider the design of effective policies in a Markovian model for the dynamic control of both admission and routing of a single class of real-time transactions to multiple…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-07-27 José Niño-Mora

We study the piecewise-stationary restless multi-armed bandit (PS-RMAB) problem, where each arm evolves as a Markov chain but \emph{mean rewards may change across unknown segments}. To address the resulting exploration--detection delay…

Information Theory · Computer Science 2026-04-14 Kuan-Ta Li , Chia-Chun Lin , Ping-Chun Hsieh , Yu-Chih Huang

Decision trees, without appropriate constraints, can easily become overly complex and prone to overfit, capturing noise rather than generalizable patterns. To resolve this problem,pruning operation is a crucial part in optimizing decision…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-08-11 Hasibul Karim Shanto , Umme Ayman Koana , Shadikur Rahman

We analytically derive a class of optimal solutions to a linear program (LP) for automated mechanism design that satisfies efficiency, incentive compatibility, strong budget balance (SBB), and individual rationality (IR), where SBB and IR…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-05-20 Takayuki Osogami , Hirota Kinoshita , Segev Wasserkrug

The Multi-Armed Bandits (MAB) framework highlights the tension between acquiring new knowledge (Exploration) and leveraging available knowledge (Exploitation). In the classical MAB problem, a decision maker must choose an arm at each time…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2017-11-03 Nir Levine , Koby Crammer , Shie Mannor

Multi-player Multi-Armed Bandits (MAB) have been extensively studied in the literature, motivated by applications to Cognitive Radio systems. Driven by such applications as well, we motivate the introduction of several levels of feedback…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2019-04-30 Lilian Besson , Emilie Kaufmann

This paper considers a multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem in which multiple mobile agents receive rewards by sampling from a collection of spatially dispersed stochastic processes, called bandits. The goal is to formulate a decentralized…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-04-01 Pathmanathan Pankayaraj , D. H. S. Maithripala , J. M. Berg

During online decision making in Multi-Armed Bandits (MAB), one needs to conduct inference on the true mean reward of each arm based on data collected so far at each step. However, since the arms are adaptively selected--thereby yielding…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-06-29 Maria Dimakopoulou , Zhimei Ren , Zhengyuan Zhou

We consider the problem of distributed online learning with multiple players in multi-armed bandits (MAB) models. Each player can pick among multiple arms. When a player picks an arm, it gets a reward. We consider both i.i.d. reward model…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2016-11-18 Dileep Kalathil , Naumaan Nayyar , Rahul Jain

The multi-armed bandit(MAB) problem is a simple yet powerful framework that has been extensively studied in the context of decision-making under uncertainty. In many real-world applications, such as robotic applications, selecting an arm…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-03-21 Tianpeng Zhang , Kasper Johansson , Na Li

In this paper, we consider the problem of allocating human operators in a system with multiple semi-autonomous robots. Each robot is required to perform an independent sequence of tasks, subjected to a chance of failing and getting stuck in…

Robotics · Computer Science 2021-11-15 Abhinav Dahiya , Nima Akbarzadeh , Aditya Mahajan , Stephen L. Smith