Related papers: Beyond dynamic programming
In this work we present a novel approach to hierarchical reinforcement learning for linearly-solvable Markov decision processes. Our approach assumes that the state space is partitioned, and the subtasks consist in moving between the…
Adaptive dynamic programming is a collective term for a variety of approaches to infinite-horizon optimal control. Common to all approaches is approximation of the infinite-horizon cost function based on dynamic programming philosophy.…
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…
We study a specific class of finite-horizon mean field optimal stopping problems by means of the dynamic programming approach. In particular, we consider problems where the state process is not affected by the stopping time. Such problems…
Policy learning utilizing observational data is pivotal across various domains, with the objective of learning the optimal treatment assignment policy while adhering to specific constraints such as fairness, budget, and simplicity. This…
We examine the problem of two-point boundary optimal control of nonlinear systems over finite-horizon time periods with unknown model dynamics by employing reinforcement learning. We use techniques from singular perturbation theory to…
In many scientific and engineering problems, noise and nonlinearity are unavoidable, which could induce interesting mathematical problem such as transition phenomena. This paper focuses on efficiently discovering the most probable…
We consider reinforcement learning (RL) methods in offline domains without additional online data collection, such as mobile health applications. Most of existing policy optimization algorithms in the computer science literature are…
We propose a machine learning algorithm for solving finite-horizon stochastic control problems based on a deep neural network representation of the optimal policy functions. The algorithm has three features: (1) It can solve…
An iterative learning algorithm is presented for continuous-time linear-quadratic optimal control problems where the system is externally symmetric with unknown dynamics. Both finite-horizon and infinite-horizon problems are considered. It…
We explore how to build a vector field from the various functions involved in a given mathematical program, and show that locally-stable equilibria of the underlying dynamical system are precisely the local solutions of the optimization…
This paper investigates an infinite-horizon linear quadratic stochastic (LQS) optimal control problem for a class of continuous-time stochastic systems. By employing the technique of adaptive dynamic programming (ADP), we propose a novel…
We consider the problem of reinforcement learning when provided with (1) a baseline control policy and (2) a set of constraints that the learner must satisfy. The baseline policy can arise from demonstration data or a teacher agent and may…
We adapt the ideas underlying the success of Deep Q-Learning to the continuous action domain. We present an actor-critic, model-free algorithm based on the deterministic policy gradient that can operate over continuous action spaces. Using…
In this article, we discuss two algorithms tailored to discrete-time deterministic finite-horizon nonlinear optimal control problems or so-called deterministic trajectory optimization problems. Both algorithms can be derived from an…
We consider a general formulation of the Principal-Agent problem with a lump-sum payment on a finite horizon, providing a systematic method for solving such problems. Our approach is the following: we first find the contract that is optimal…
Standard reinforcement learning (RL) aims to find an optimal policy that identifies the best action for each state. However, in healthcare settings, many actions may be near-equivalent with respect to the reward (e.g., survival). We…
We introduce a class of learning problems where the agent is presented with a series of tasks. Intuitively, if there is relation among those tasks, then the information gained during execution of one task has value for the execution of…
Large language models excel at short-horizon reasoning tasks, but performance drops as reasoning horizon lengths increase. Existing approaches to combat this rely on inference-time scaffolding or costly step-level supervision, neither of…
The ability to compose learned skills to solve new tasks is an important property of lifelong-learning agents. In this work, we formalise the logical composition of tasks as a Boolean algebra. This allows us to formulate new tasks in terms…