Related papers: Large-Scale Methods for Distributionally Robust Op…
This paper proposes a differentiable robust LQR layer for reinforcement learning and imitation learning under model uncertainty and stochastic dynamics. The robust LQR layer can exploit the advantages of robust optimal control and…
In this paper we wish to tackle stochastic programs affected by ambiguity about the probability law that governs their uncertain parameters. Using optimal transport theory, we construct an ambiguity set that exploits the knowledge about the…
Autonomous cyber and cyber-physical systems need to perform decision-making, learning, and control in unknown environments. Such decision-making can be sensitive to multiple factors, including modeling errors, changes in costs, and impacts…
Algorithmic reproducibility measures the deviation in outputs of machine learning algorithms upon minor changes in the training process. Previous work suggests that first-order methods would need to trade-off convergence rate (gradient…
Optimizing static risk-averse objectives in Markov decision processes is difficult because they do not admit standard dynamic programming equations common in Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms. Dynamic programming decompositions that…
Under losses which are potentially heavy-tailed, we consider the task of minimizing sums of the loss mean and standard deviation, without trying to accurately estimate the variance. By modifying a technique for variance-free robust mean…
Conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) and value-at-risk (VaR) are popular tail-risk measures in finance and insurance industries as well as in highly reliable, safety-critical uncertain environments where often the underlying probability…
This paper proposes a novel safety specification tool, called the distributionally robust risk map (DR-risk map), for a mobile robot operating in a learning-enabled environment. Given the robot's position, the map aims to reliably assess…
In a chance constrained program (CCP), the decision-makers aim to seek the best decision whose probability of violating the uncertainty constraints is within the prespecified risk level. As a CCP is often nonconvex and is difficult to solve…
We consider stochastic optimization when one only has access to biased stochastic oracles of the objective and the gradient, and obtaining stochastic gradients with low biases comes at high costs. This setting captures various optimization…
The distributionally robust Markov Decision Process (MDP) approach asks for a distributionally robust policy that achieves the maximal expected total reward under the most adversarial distribution of uncertain parameters. In this paper, we…
This paper addresses optimization problems constrained by partial differential equations with uncertain coefficients. In particular, the robust control problem and the average control problem are considered for a tracking type cost…
We give the first polynomial time and sample $(\epsilon, \delta)$-differentially private (DP) algorithm to estimate the mean, covariance and higher moments in the presence of a constant fraction of adversarial outliers. Our algorithm…
We present the conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) in the context of Markov chains and Markov decision processes with reachability and mean-payoff objectives. CVaR quantifies risk by means of the expectation of the worst p-quantile. As such it…
Distributionally Robust (DR) optimization aims to certify worst-case risk within a Wasserstein uncertainty set. Current certifications typically rely either on global Lipschitz bounds, which are often conservative, or on local gradient…
Robust optimization safeguards decisions against uncertainty by optimizing against worst-case scenarios, yet their effectiveness hinges on a prespecified robustness level that is often chosen ad hoc, leading to either insufficient…
In real-world scenarios, risk-averse learning is valuable for mitigating potential adverse outcomes. However, the delayed feedback makes it challenging to assess and manage risk effectively. In this paper, we investigate risk-averse…
Distributionally robust optimization (DRO) has become a powerful framework for estimation under uncertainty, offering strong out-of-sample performance and principled regularization. In this paper, we propose a DRO-based method for linear…
We develop and analyze a variant of the SARAH algorithm, which does not require computation of the exact gradient. Thus this new method can be applied to general expectation minimization problems rather than only finite sum problems. While…
Uncertainty modeling has become increasingly important in power system decision-making. The widely-used tractable uncertainty modeling method-chance constraints with Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) approximation, can be overconservative…