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Mini-batch algorithms have been proposed as a way to speed-up stochastic convex optimization problems. We study how such algorithms can be improved using accelerated gradient methods. We provide a novel analysis, which shows how standard…
Autonomous agents face the challenge of coordinating multiple tasks (perception, motion planning, controller) which are computationally expensive on a single onboard computer. To utilize the onboard processing capacity optimally, it is…
This paper focuses on Bayesian Optimization in combinatorial spaces. In many applications in the natural science. Broad applications include the study of molecules, proteins, DNA, device structures and quantum circuit designs, a on…
Gradient boosting is a state-of-the-art prediction technique that sequentially produces a model in the form of linear combinations of simple predictors---typically decision trees---by solving an infinite-dimensional convex optimization…
In this paper we consider large-scale composite optimization problems having the objective function formed as a sum of two terms (possibly nonconvex), one has (block) coordinate-wise Lipschitz continuous gradient and the other is…
This paper considers unconstrained convex optimization problems with time-varying objective functions. We propose algorithms with a discrete time-sampling scheme to find and track the solution trajectory based on prediction and correction…
Following the seminal work of Nesterov, accelerated optimization methods have been used to powerfully boost the performance of first-order, gradient-based parameter estimation in scenarios where second-order optimization strategies are…
Hierarchical, multi-resolution volumetric mapping approaches are widely used to represent large and complex environments as they can efficiently capture their occupancy and connectivity information. Yet widely used path planning methods…
This paper considers the analysis of continuous time gradient-based optimization algorithms through the lens of nonlinear contraction theory. It demonstrates that in the case of a time-invariant objective, most elementary results on…
This paper investigates the use of multiple directions of stratification as a variance reduction technique for Monte Carlo simulations of path-dependent options driven by Gaussian vectors. The precision of the method depends on the choice…
Gradient-based iterative optimization methods are the workhorse of modern machine learning. They crucially rely on careful tuning of parameters like learning rate and momentum. However, one typically sets them using heuristic approaches…
In robotic deformable object manipulation (DOM) applications, constraints arise commonly from environments and task-specific requirements. Enabling DOM with constraints is therefore crucial for its deployment in practice. However, dealing…
Stochastic gradient methods have been a popular and powerful choice of optimization methods, aimed at minimizing functions. Their advantage lies in the fact that that one approximates the gradient as opposed to using the full Jacobian…
Real-world environments are inherently uncertain, and to operate safely in these environments robots must be able to plan around this uncertainty. In the context of motion planning, we desire systems that can maintain an acceptable level of…
In this paper we consider convergence rate problems for stochastic strongly-convex optimization in the non-Euclidean sense with a constraint set over a time-varying multi-agent network. We propose two efficient non-Euclidean stochastic…
We develop simple differentially private optimization algorithms that move along directions of (expected) descent to find an approximate second-order solution for nonconvex ERM. We use line search, mini-batching, and a two-phase strategy to…
Finite-difference methods are widely used for zeroth-order optimization in settings where gradient information is unavailable or expensive to compute. These procedures mimic first-order strategies by approximating gradients through function…
Solving crystal structures from powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) is a central challenge in materials characterization. In this work, we study the powder XRD-to-structure mapping using gradient descent optimization, with the goal of recovering…
Gradient-based optimization of engineering designs is limited by non-differentiable components in the typical computer-aided engineering (CAE) workflow, which calculates performance metrics from design parameters. While gradient-based…
In this paper, we aim at providing an introduction to the gradient descent based optimization algorithms for learning deep neural network models. Deep learning models involving multiple nonlinear projection layers are very challenging to…