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Learning policies for bipedal locomotion can be difficult, as experiments are expensive and simulation does not usually transfer well to hardware. To counter this, we need al- gorithms that are sample efficient and inherently safe. Bayesian…
Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems have the potential to deliver higher system throughput, compared to contemporary orthogonal multiple access techniques. For a linearly precoded multiple-input multiple-output (MISO) system, we…
Most successful stochastic black-box optimizers, such as CMA-ES, use rankings of the individual samples to obtain a new search distribution. Yet, the use of rankings also introduces several issues such as the underlying optimization…
Bayesian optimization is a promising methodology for analog circuit synthesis. However, the sequential nature of the Bayesian optimization framework significantly limits its ability to fully utilize real-world computational resources. In…
We consider stochastic optimization problems which use observed data to estimate essential characteristics of the random quantities involved. Sample average approximation (SAA) or empirical (plug-in) estimation are very popular ways to use…
We present a scalable, black box, perception-in-the-loop technique to find adversarial examples for deep neural network classifiers. Black box means that our procedure only has input-output access to the classifier, and not to the internal…
Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are useful in obtaining thermodynamic and kinetic properties of bio-molecules but are limited by the timescale barrier, i.e., we may be unable to efficiently obtain properties because we need to run…
In the field of evolutionary computation, one of the most challenging topics is algorithm selection. Knowing which heuristics to use for which optimization problem is key to obtaining high-quality solutions. We aim to extend this research…
We present a novel black box optimization algorithm called Hessian Estimation Evolution Strategy. The algorithm updates the covariance matrix of its sampling distribution by directly estimating the curvature of the objective function. This…
State-space models are used in a wide range of time series analysis formulations. Kalman filtering and smoothing are work-horse algorithms in these settings. While classic algorithms assume Gaussian errors to simplify estimation, recent…
Many expensive black-box optimisation problems are sensitive to their inputs. In these problems it makes more sense to locate a region of good designs, than a single-possibly fragile-optimal design. Expensive black-box functions can be…
Averaging, or smoothing, is a fundamental approach to obtain stable, de-noised estimates from noisy observations. In certain scenarios, observations made along trajectories of random dynamical systems are of particular interest. One popular…
Bayesian optimization is a coherent, ubiquitous approach to decision-making under uncertainty, with applications including multi-arm bandits, active learning, and black-box optimization. Bayesian optimization selects decisions (i.e.…
Pre-training a diverse set of neural network controllers in simulation has enabled robots to adapt online to damage in robot locomotion tasks. However, finding diverse, high-performing controllers requires expensive network training and…
Oversampled adaptive sensing (OAS) is a recently proposed Bayesian framework which sequentially adapts the sensing basis. In OAS, estimation quality is, in each step, measured by conditional mean squared errors (MSEs), and the basis for the…
We consider the nonparametric robust estimation problem for regression models in continuous time with semi-Markov noises. An adaptive model selection procedure is proposed. Under general moment conditions on the noise distribution a sharp…
This paper considers the problem of asynchronous stochastic nonconvex optimization with heavy-tailed gradient noise and arbitrarily heterogeneous computation times across workers. We propose an asynchronous normalized stochastic gradient…
Bearing measurements,as the most common modality in nature, have recently gained traction in multi-robot systems to enhance mutual localization and swarm collaboration. Despite their advantages, challenges such as sensory noise, obstacle…
We formulate selecting the best optimizing system (SBOS) problems and provide solutions for those problems. In an SBOS problem, a finite number of systems are contenders. Inside each system, a continuous decision variable affects the…
A greedy algorithm is proposed for sparse-sensor selection in reduced-order sensing that contains correlated noise in measurement. The sensor selection is carried out by maximizing the determinant of the Fisher information matrix in a…