Related papers: Second-Order Stein Variational Dynamic Optimizatio…
A stochastic-gradient-based interior-point algorithm for minimizing a continuously differentiable objective function (that may be nonconvex) subject to bound constraints is presented, analyzed, and demonstrated through experimental results.…
An efficient proximal-gradient-based method, called proximal extrapolated gradient method, is designed for solving monotone variational inequality in Hilbert space. The proposed method extends the acceptable range of parameters to obtain…
Iterative trajectory optimization techniques for non-linear dynamical systems are among the most powerful and sample-efficient methods of model-based reinforcement learning and approximate optimal control. By leveraging time-variant local…
In this paper, we present a novel maximum entropy formulation of the Differential Dynamic Programming algorithm and derive two variants using unimodal and multimodal value functions parameterizations. By combining the maximum entropy…
Stochastic gradient methods (SGMs) have been extensively used for solving stochastic problems or large-scale machine learning problems. Recent works employ various techniques to improve the convergence rate of SGMs for both convex and…
Motion planning is a key aspect of robotics. A common approach to address motion planning problems is trajectory optimization. Trajectory optimization can represent the high-level behaviors of robots through mathematical formulations.…
While first-order optimization methods such as stochastic gradient descent (SGD) are popular in machine learning (ML), they come with well-known deficiencies, including relatively-slow convergence, sensitivity to the settings of…
The global minimum point of an optimization problem is of interest in engineering fields and it is difficult to be found, especially for a nonconvex large-scale optimization problem. In this article, we consider a new memetic algorithm for…
This paper introduces a new proximal stochastic gradient method with variance reduction and stabilization for minimizing the sum of a convex stochastic function and a group sparsity-inducing regularization function. Since the method may be…
In this study, we consider an optimization problem with uncertainty dependent on decision variables, which has recently attracted attention due to its importance in machine learning and pricing applications. In this problem, the gradient of…
In this paper, we propose a distributed stochastic second-order proximal method that enables agents in a network to cooperatively minimize the sum of their local loss functions without any centralized coordination. The proposed algorithm,…
This paper examines the spatial coverage optimization problem for multiple sensors in a known convex environment, where the coverage service of each sensor is heterogeneous and anisotropic. We introduce the Stein Coverage algorithm, a…
We consider stochastic convex optimization problems where the objective is an expectation over smooth functions. For this setting we suggest a novel gradient estimate that combines two recent mechanism that are related to notion of…
Ground robots navigating in complex, dynamic environments must compute collision-free trajectories to avoid obstacles safely and efficiently. Nonconvex optimization is a popular method to compute a trajectory in real-time. However, these…
We introduce a new second order stochastic algorithm to estimate the entropically regularized optimal transport cost between two probability measures. The source measure can be arbitrary chosen, either absolutely continuous or discrete,…
We present a stochastic first-order optimization method specialized for deep neural networks (DNNs), ECCO-DNN. This method models the optimization variable trajectory as a dynamical system and develops a discretization algorithm that…
Stein Variational Gradient Descent (SVGD) is a highly efficient method to sample from an unnormalized probability distribution. However, the SVGD update relies on gradients of the log-density, which may not always be available. Existing…
The goal of this paper is to debunk and dispel the magic behind black-box optimizers and stochastic optimizers. It aims to build a solid foundation on how and why the techniques work. This manuscript crystallizes this knowledge by deriving…
Optimization theory serves as a pivotal scientific instrument for achieving optimal system performance, with its origins in economic applications to identify the best investment strategies for maximizing benefits. Over the centuries, from…
Model training algorithms which observe a small portion of the training set in each computational step are ubiquitous in practical machine learning, and include both stochastic and online optimization methods. In the vast majority of cases,…