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We propose policy gradient algorithms for robust infinite-horizon Markov decision processes (MDPs) with non-rectangular uncertainty sets, thereby addressing an open challenge in the robust MDP literature. Indeed, uncertainty sets that…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-09-30 Mengmeng Li , Daniel Kuhn , Tobias Sutter

This paper studies continuous-time stochastic control problems whose controlled states are fully non-Markovian and depend on unknown model parameters. Such problems arise naturally in path-dependent stochastic differential equations,…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2026-05-29 Dorival Leão , Alberto Ohashi , Simone Scotti , Adolfo M. D da Silva

A classical approach for solving discrete time nonlinear control on a finite horizon consists in repeatedly minimizing linear quadratic approximations of the original problem around current candidate solutions. While widely popular in many…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-07-08 Vincent Roulet , Siddhartha Srinivasa , Maryam Fazel , Zaid Harchaoui

The objective of this work is to study continuous-time Markov decision processes on a general Borel state space with both impulsive and continuous controls for the infinite-time horizon discounted cost. The continuous-time controlled…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-08-17 François Dufour , Alexei Piunovskiy

Large-scale Markov decision processes (MDPs) require planning algorithms with runtime independent of the number of states of the MDP. We consider the planning problem in MDPs using linear value function approximation with only weak…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-07-14 Roshan Shariff , Csaba Szepesvári

This paper is devoted to solving a time-inconsistent risk-sensitive control problem with parameter $\e$ and its limit case ($\e\rightarrow0^+$) for countable-stated Markov decision processes (MDPs for short). Since the cost functional is…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-10-22 Hongwei Mei

The approximative calculation of iterated nested expectations is a recurring challenging problem in applications. Nested expectations appear, for example, in the numerical approximation of solutions of backward stochastic differential…

Probability · Mathematics 2020-09-30 Christian Beck , Arnulf Jentzen , Thomas Kruse

This paper studies a finite-horizon Markov decision problem with information-theoretic constraints, where the goal is to minimize directed information from the controlled source process to the control process, subject to stage-wise cost…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-09-04 Zixuan He , Charalambos D. Charalambous , Photios A. Stavrou

This paper develops a unified methodology for probabilistic analysis and optimal control design for jump diffusion processes defined by polynomials. For such systems, the evolution of the moments of the state can be described via a system…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2017-02-03 Andrew Lamperski , Khem Raj Ghusinga , Abhyudai Singh

Markov decision problems (MDPs) provide the foundations for a number of problems of interest to AI researchers studying automated planning and reinforcement learning. In this paper, we summarize results regarding the complexity of solving…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2013-02-21 Michael L. Littman , Thomas L. Dean , Leslie Pack Kaelbling

We consider a dynamic programming (DP) approach to approximately solving an infinite-horizon constrained Markov decision process (CMDP) problem with a fixed initial-state for the expected total discounted-reward criterion with a…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-08-08 Hyeong Soo Chang

This paper investigates methods for estimating the optimal stochastic control policy for a Markov Decision Process with unknown transition dynamics and an unknown reward function. This form of model-free reinforcement learning comprises…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-12-06 Brandon Trabucco , Albert Qu , Simon Li , Ganeshkumar Ashokavardhanan

Nonlinear optimal control is vital for numerous applications but remains challenging for unknown systems due to the difficulties in accurately modelling dynamics and handling computational demands, particularly in high-dimensional settings.…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2024-12-03 Zhexuan Zeng , Ruikun Zhou , Yiming Meng , Jun Liu

We consider large-scale Markov decision processes (MDPs) with a risk measure of variability in cost, under the risk-aware MDPs paradigm. Previous studies showed that risk-aware MDPs, based on a minimax approach to handling risk, can be…

Systems and Control · Computer Science 2017-05-17 Pengqian Yu , William B. Haskell , Huan Xu

In many hierarchical inverse problems, not only do we want to estimate high- or infinite-dimensional model parameters in the parameter-to-observable maps, but we also have to estimate hyperparameters that represent critical assumptions in…

Computation · Statistics 2020-02-18 Johnathan Bardsley , Tiangang Cui

We treat infinite horizon optimal control problems by solving the associated stationary Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation numerically to compute the value function and an optimal feedback law. The dynamical systems under consideration…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-05-19 Mathias Oster , Leon Sallandt , Reinhold Schneider

Markov Decision Processes (Mdps) form a versatile framework used to model a wide range of optimization problems. The Mdp model consists of sets of states, actions, time steps, rewards, and probability transitions. When in a given state and…

Many sequential decision problems can be formulated as Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) where the optimal value function (or cost-to-go function) can be shown to satisfy a monotone structure in some or all of its dimensions. When the state…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2015-09-03 Daniel R. Jiang , Warren B. Powell

In this paper, we use concepts from supervisory control theory of discrete event systems to propose a method to learn optimal control policies for a finite-state Markov Decision Process (MDP) in which (only) certain sequences of actions are…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-01-04 Arun Raman , Keerthan Shagrithaya , Shalabh Bhatnagar

Model Predictive Control (MPC) is a well-established approach to solve infinite horizon optimal control problems. Since optimization over an infinite time horizon is generally infeasible, MPC determines a suboptimal feedback control by…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-10-26 Saskia Dietze , Martin A. Grepl