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Related papers: Policy Optimization for Stochastic Shortest Path

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Goal-oriented Reinforcement Learning, where the agent needs to reach the goal state while simultaneously minimizing the cost, has received significant attention in real-world applications. Its theoretical formulation, stochastic shortest…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-06-13 Ming Yin , Wenjing Chen , Mengdi Wang , Yu-Xiang Wang

We introduce a generic template for developing regret minimization algorithms in the Stochastic Shortest Path (SSP) model, which achieves minimax optimal regret as long as certain properties are ensured. The key of our analysis is a new…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-11-11 Liyu Chen , Mehdi Jafarnia-Jahromi , Rahul Jain , Haipeng Luo

We study the sample complexity of learning an $\epsilon$-optimal policy in the Stochastic Shortest Path (SSP) problem. We first derive sample complexity bounds when the learner has access to a generative model. We show that there exists a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-10-12 Liyu Chen , Andrea Tirinzoni , Matteo Pirotta , Alessandro Lazaric

In this paper we propose two algorithms in the tabular setting and an algorithm for the function approximation setting for the Stochastic Shortest Path (SSP) problem. SSP problems form an important class of problems in Reinforcement…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-12-03 Soumyajit Guin , Shalabh Bhatnagar

We study reinforcement learning in stochastic path (SP) problems. The goal in these problems is to maximize the expected sum of rewards until the agent reaches a terminal state. We provide the first regret guarantees in this general problem…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-10-18 Christoph Dann , Chen-Yu Wei , Julian Zimmert

The infinite horizon setting is widely adopted for problems of reinforcement learning (RL). These invariably result in stationary policies that are optimal. In many situations, finite horizon control problems are of interest and for such…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-03-21 Soumyajit Guin , Shalabh Bhatnagar

Stochastic shortest path (SSP) is a well-known problem in planning and control, in which an agent has to reach a goal state in minimum total expected cost. In the learning formulation of the problem, the agent is unaware of the environment…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-02-25 Alon Cohen , Haim Kaplan , Yishay Mansour , Aviv Rosenberg

We study the sample complexity of learning an $\epsilon$-optimal policy in the Stochastic Shortest Path (SSP) problem. We first derive sample complexity bounds when the learner has access to a generative model. We show that there exists a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-04-20 Jean Tarbouriech , Matteo Pirotta , Michal Valko , Alessandro Lazaric

We consider the problem of online reinforcement learning for the Stochastic Shortest Path (SSP) problem modeled as an unknown MDP with an absorbing state. We propose PSRL-SSP, a simple posterior sampling-based reinforcement learning…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-06-11 Mehdi Jafarnia-Jahromi , Liyu Chen , Rahul Jain , Haipeng Luo

We study the problem of learning in the stochastic shortest path (SSP) setting, where an agent seeks to minimize the expected cost accumulated before reaching a goal state. We design a novel model-based algorithm EB-SSP that carefully skews…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-12-13 Jean Tarbouriech , Runlong Zhou , Simon S. Du , Matteo Pirotta , Michal Valko , Alessandro Lazaric

We study the Stochastic Shortest Path (SSP) problem with a linear mixture transition kernel, where an agent repeatedly interacts with a stochastic environment and seeks to reach certain goal state while minimizing the cumulative cost.…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-02-15 Qiwei Di , Jiafan He , Dongruo Zhou , Quanquan Gu

Safe reinforcement learning aims to learn the optimal policy while satisfying safety constraints, which is essential in real-world applications. However, current algorithms still struggle for efficient policy updates with hard constraint…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-06-20 Linrui Zhang , Li Shen , Long Yang , Shixiang Chen , Bo Yuan , Xueqian Wang , Dacheng Tao

We study the stochastic shortest path (SSP) problem in reinforcement learning with linear function approximation, where the transition kernel is represented as a linear mixture of unknown models. We call this class of SSP problems as linear…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-07-06 Yifei Min , Jiafan He , Tianhao Wang , Quanquan Gu

In this work, we introduce a stochastic maximum principle (SMP) approach for solving the reinforcement learning problem with the assumption that the unknowns in the environment can be parameterized based on physics knowledge. For the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-06-14 Richard Archibald , Feng Bao , Jiongmin Yong

We study the Stochastic Shortest Path (SSP) problem in which an agent has to reach a goal state in minimum total expected cost. In the learning formulation of the problem, the agent has no prior knowledge about the costs and dynamics of the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-12-10 Alon Cohen , Yonathan Efroni , Yishay Mansour , Aviv Rosenberg

We propose a formulation of the stochastic cutting stock problem as a discounted infinite-horizon Markov decision process. At each decision epoch, given current inventory of items, an agent chooses in which patterns to cut objects in stock…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-06-29 Anselmo R. Pitombeira-Neto , Arthur H. Fonseca Murta

We provide performance guarantees for a variant of simulation-based policy iteration for controlling Markov decision processes that involves the use of stochastic approximation algorithms along with state-of-the-art techniques that are…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-10-17 Anna Winnicki , R. Srikant

We initiate the study of dynamic regret minimization for goal-oriented reinforcement learning modeled by a non-stationary stochastic shortest path problem with changing cost and transition functions. We start by establishing a lower bound…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-05-27 Liyu Chen , Haipeng Luo

Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) is among the most widely used deep reinforcement learning algorithms, yet its theoretical foundations remain incomplete. Most importantly, convergence and understanding of fundamental PPO advantages remain…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-02-04 Leif Doering , Daniel Schmidt , Moritz Melcher , Sebastian Kassing , Benedikt Wille , Tilman Aach , Simon Weissmann

Robotic systems must be able to quickly and robustly make decisions when operating in uncertain and dynamic environments. While Reinforcement Learning (RL) can be used to compute optimal policies with little prior knowledge about the…

Robotics · Computer Science 2016-09-13 Yunpeng Pan , Xinyan Yan , Evangelos Theodorou , Byron Boots
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