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For combinatorial optimization problems, model-based approaches such as mixed-integer programming (MIP) and constraint programming (CP) aim to decouple modeling and solving a problem: the 'holy grail' of declarative problem solving. We…
Differential computation (DC) is a highly general incremental computation/view maintenance technique that can maintain the output of an arbitrary and possibly recursive dataflow computation upon changes to its base inputs. As such, it is a…
In complex engineered systems, completing an objective is sometimes not enough. The system must be able to reach a set performance characteristic, such as an unmanned aerial vehicle flying from point A to point B, \textit{under 10 seconds}.…
Stochastic dual dynamic programming is a cutting plane type algorithm for multi-stage stochastic optimization originated about 30 years ago. In spite of its popularity in practice, there does not exist any analysis on the convergence rates…
This paper develops a Pontryagin Differentiable Programming (PDP) methodology, which establishes a unified framework to solve a broad class of learning and control tasks. The PDP distinguishes from existing methods by two novel techniques:…
We develop a novel, general and computationally efficient framework, called Divide and Conquer Dynamic Programming (DCDP), for localizing change points in time series data with high-dimensional features. DCDP deploys a class of greedy…
The paper develops the Adaptive Dynamic Programming Toolbox (ADPT), which solves optimal control problems for continuous-time nonlinear systems. Based on the adaptive dynamic programming technique, the ADPT computes optimal feedback…
Certified safe control is a growing challenge in robotics, especially when performance and safety objectives must be concurrently achieved. In this work, we extend the barrier state (BaS) concept, recently proposed for safe stabilization of…
Optimal control problems can be solved via a one-shot (single) optimization or a sequence of optimization using dynamic programming (DP). However, the computation of their global optima often faces NP-hardness, and thus only locally optimal…
We develop a discrete-time optimal control framework for systems evolving on Lie groups. Our work generalizes the original Differential Dynamic Programming method, by employing a coordinate-free, Lie-theoretic approach for its derivation. A…
To acquire a new skill, humans learn better and faster if a tutor, based on their current knowledge level, informs them of how much attention they should pay to particular content or practice problems. Similarly, a machine learning model…
Dynamic Movement Primitives (DMPs) is a framework for learning a point-to-point trajectory from a demonstration. Despite being widely used, DMPs still present some shortcomings that may limit their usage in real robotic applications.…
Multidimensional fitting (MDF) method is a multivariate data analysis method recently developed and based on the fitting of distances. Two matrices are available: one contains the coordinates of the points and the second contains the…
Generalized Polynomial Chaos (gPC) theory has been widely used for representing parametric uncertainty in a system, thanks to its ability to propagate uncertainty evolution. In an optimal control context, gPC can be combined with several…
This paper proposes an algorithm to efficiently solve multistage stochastic programs with block separable recourse where each recourse problem is a multistage stochastic program with stage-wise independent uncertainty. The algorithm first…
This paper presents a contact-implicit model predictive control (MPC) framework for the real-time discovery of multi-contact motions, without predefined contact mode sequences or foothold positions. This approach utilizes the…
This paper presents a new theory, known as robust dynamic pro- gramming, for a class of continuous-time dynamical systems. Different from traditional dynamic programming (DP) methods, this new theory serves as a fundamental tool to analyze…
In this work, we study dynamic programming (DP) algorithms for partially observable Markov decision processes with jointly continuous and discrete state-spaces. We consider a class of stochastic systems which have coupled discrete and…
Differential dynamic programming (DDP) is a widely used and powerful trajectory optimization technique, however, due to its internal structure, it is not exempt from local minima. In this paper, we present Differential Dynamic Programming…
Stochastic Dual Dynamic Programming (SDDP) is a widely used and fundamental algorithm for solving multistage stochastic optimization problems. Although SDDP has been frequently applied to solve risk-averse models with the Conditional…