English
Related papers

Related papers: Finite-Sample Bounds for Adaptive Inverse Reinforc…

200 papers

Inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) is the problem of finding a reward function that generates a given optimal policy for a given Markov Decision Process. This paper looks at an algorithmic-independent geometric analysis of the IRL problem…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-02-19 Abi Komanduru , Jean Honorio

We develop an extension of posterior sampling for reinforcement learning (PSRL) that is suited for a continuing agent-environment interface and integrates naturally into agent designs that scale to complex environments. The approach,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-10-15 Wanqiao Xu , Shi Dong , Benjamin Van Roy

It is known that adaptive optimization algorithms represent the key pillar behind the rise of the Machine Learning field. In the Optimization literature numerous studies have been devoted to accelerated gradient methods but only recently…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-02-02 Cristian Daniel Alecsa

Offline reinforcement learning (RL), where the agent aims to learn the optimal policy based on the data collected by a behavior policy, has attracted increasing attention in recent years. While offline RL with linear function approximation…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-10-10 Qiwei Di , Heyang Zhao , Jiafan He , Quanquan Gu

We propose a new approach to value function approximation which combines linear temporal difference reinforcement learning with subspace identification. In practical applications, reinforcement learning (RL) is complicated by the fact that…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2015-03-17 Byron Boots , Geoffrey J. Gordon

The sim-to-real gap, which represents the disparity between training and testing environments, poses a significant challenge in reinforcement learning (RL). A promising approach to addressing this challenge is distributionally robust RL,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-11-05 Miao Lu , Han Zhong , Tong Zhang , Jose Blanchet

Common assumptions, like linear or RKHS models, and Gaussian or log-concave posteriors over the models, do not explain practical success of RL across a wider range of distributions and models. Thus, we study how to design RL algorithms with…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-02-06 Emilio Jorge , Christos Dimitrakakis , Debabrota Basu

Two-timescale Stochastic Approximation (SA) algorithms are widely used in Reinforcement Learning (RL). Their iterates have two parts that are updated using distinct stepsizes. In this work, we develop a novel recipe for their finite sample…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2018-06-06 Gal Dalal , Balazs Szorenyi , Gugan Thoppe , Shie Mannor

Motivated by applications in reinforcement learning (RL), we study a nonlinear stochastic approximation (SA) algorithm under Markovian noise, and establish its finite-sample convergence bounds under various stepsizes. Specifically, we show…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-01-27 Zaiwei Chen , Sheng Zhang , Thinh T. Doan , John-Paul Clarke , Siva Theja Maguluri

Continuous reinforcement learning such as DDPG and A3C are widely used in robot control and autonomous driving. However, both methods have theoretical weaknesses. While DDPG cannot control noises in the control process, A3C does not satisfy…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-08-09 Tianhao Chen , Limei Cheng , Yang Liu , Wenchuan Jia , Shugen Ma

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are typically highly nonlinear systems which are finely tuned via the optimization of their associated, non-convex loss functions. In many cases, the gradient of any such loss function has superlinear…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-01-18 Attila Lovas , Iosif Lytras , Miklós Rásonyi , Sotirios Sabanis

We develop a framework for analyzing the training and learning rate dynamics on a large class of high-dimensional optimization problems, which we call the high line, trained using one-pass stochastic gradient descent (SGD) with adaptive…

Inverse Reinforcement Learning (IRL) is the task of learning a single reward function given a Markov Decision Process (MDP) without defining the reward function, and a set of demonstrations generated by humans/experts. However, in practice,…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2017-12-18 Siddharthan Rajasekaran , Jinwei Zhang , Jie Fu

Direct policy search serves as one of the workhorses in modern reinforcement learning (RL), and its applications in continuous control tasks have recently attracted increasing attention. In this work, we investigate the convergence theory…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-01-03 Kaiqing Zhang , Xiangyuan Zhang , Bin Hu , Tamer Başar

Motivated by broad applications in machine learning, we study the popular accelerated stochastic gradient descent (ASGD) algorithm for solving (possibly nonconvex) optimization problems. We characterize the finite-time performance of this…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-10-20 Thinh T. Doan , Lam M. Nguyen , Nhan H. Pham , Justin Romberg

Approximate inference in probability models is a fundamental task in machine learning. Approximate inference provides powerful tools to Bayesian reasoning, decision making, and Bayesian deep learning. The main goal is to estimate the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-03-10 Jun Han

Training deep reinforcement learning (RL) agents necessitates overcoming the highly unstable nonconvex stochastic optimization inherent in the trial-and-error mechanism. To tackle this challenge, we propose a physics-inspired optimization…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-12-10 Yao Lyu , Xiangteng Zhang , Shengbo Eben Li , Jingliang Duan , Letian Tao , Qing Xu , Lei He , Keqiang Li

We introduce a sampling perspective to tackle the challenging task of training robust Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents. Leveraging the powerful Stochastic Gradient Langevin Dynamics, we present a novel, scalable two-player RL algorithm,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-11-09 Parameswaran Kamalaruban , Yu-Ting Huang , Ya-Ping Hsieh , Paul Rolland , Cheng Shi , Volkan Cevher

Bayesian neural networks (BNNs) require scalable sampling algorithms to approximate posterior distributions over parameters. Existing stochastic gradient Markov Chain Monte Carlo (SGMCMC) methods are highly sensitive to the choice of…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-04-10 Rajit Rajpal , Benedict Leimkuhler , Yuanhao Jiang

Safe reinforcement learning (Safe RL) aims to ensure policy performance while satisfying safety constraints. However, most existing Safe RL methods assume benign environments, making them vulnerable to adversarial perturbations commonly…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-02-19 Jialiang Fan , Shixiong Jiang , Mengyu Liu , Fanxin Kong