Related papers: Primal-dual policy learning for mean-field stochas…
This paper proposes a novel distributed approach for solving a cooperative Constrained Multi-agent Reinforcement Learning (CMARL) problem, where agents seek to minimize a global objective function subject to shared constraints. Unlike…
Continual learning is inherently a constrained learning problem. The goal is to learn a predictor under a no-forgetting requirement. Although several prior studies formulate it as such, they do not solve the constrained problem explicitly.…
We propose a primal--dual technique that applies to infinite dimensional equality constrained problems, in particular those arising from optimal control. As an application of our general framework, we solve a control-constrained double…
This paper is concerned with mean-field stochastic linear-quadratic (MF-SLQ, for short) optimal control problems with deterministic coefficients. The notion of weak closed-loop optimal strategy is introduced. It is shown that the open-loop…
This manuscript surveys reinforcement learning from the perspective of optimization and control with a focus on continuous control applications. It surveys the general formulation, terminology, and typical experimental implementations of…
We study the setting of \emph{performative reinforcement learning} where the deployed policy affects both the reward, and the transition of the underlying Markov decision process. Prior work~\parencite{MTR23} has addressed this problem…
In modern machine learning, models can often fit training data in numerous ways, some of which perform well on unseen (test) data, while others do not. Remarkably, in such cases gradient descent frequently exhibits an implicit bias that…
We propose controller synthesis for state regulation problems in which a human operator shares control with an autonomy system, running in parallel. The autonomy system continuously improves over human action, with minimal intervention, and…
In this paper, we first prove that the mean-field stochastic linear quadratic (MFSLQ for short) control problem with random coefficients has a unique optimal control and derive a preliminary stochastic maximum principle to characterize this…
We present Residual Policy Learning (RPL): a simple method for improving nondifferentiable policies using model-free deep reinforcement learning. RPL thrives in complex robotic manipulation tasks where good but imperfect controllers are…
In this paper, we investigate sequential power allocation over fast varying channels for mission-critical applications, aiming to minimize the expected sum power while guaranteeing the transmission success probability. In particular, a…
We study the problem of learning safe control policies that are also effective; i.e., maximizing the probability of satisfying a linear temporal logic (LTL) specification of a task, and the discounted reward capturing the (classic) control…
Semidefinite programs (SDPs) play a crucial role in control theory, traditionally as a computational tool. Beyond computation, the duality theory in convex optimization also provides valuable analytical insights and new proofs of classical…
This paper proposes a differentiable robust LQR layer for reinforcement learning and imitation learning under model uncertainty and stochastic dynamics. The robust LQR layer can exploit the advantages of robust optimal control and…
It is known that reinforcement learning (RL) is data-hungry. To improve sample-efficiency of RL, it has been proposed that the learning algorithm utilize data from 'approximately similar' processes. However, since the process models are…
We study the problem of designing a state feedback linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controller for a system in which the system matrices as well as the process noise covariance are unknown. We do a rigorous comparison between two approaches.…
Regularized empirical risk minimization problem with linear predictor appears frequently in machine learning. In this paper, we propose a new stochastic primal-dual method to solve this class of problems. Different from existing methods,…
We propose a modified primal-dual method for general convex optimization problems with changing constraints. We obtain properties of Lagrangian saddle points for these problems which enable us to establish convergence of the proposed…
Understanding the optimization landscape of linear quadratic regulation (LQR) problems is fundamental to the design of efficient reinforcement learning solutions. Recent work has made significant progress in characterizing the landscape of…
The convergence of policy gradient algorithms in reinforcement learning hinges on the optimization landscape of the underlying optimal control problem. Theoretical insights into these algorithms can often be acquired from analyzing those of…